As Suzuki celebrates its 100th year, it’s worth taking a brief look back at where it all began from textiles and how the core DNA and ‘Kaizen’ principle of continuous improvement runs through the company across all of its products of car, motorcycle, outboard marine engines and ATV’s.

The Japanese art of craftsmanship or ‘Monozukuri’ which denotes ‘smaller, fewer, lighter, shorter and neater’ is applied to not only its products but also its plants around the world to eliminate unnecessary waste, maintain high quality and manufacture efficiently.

A decade before Suzuki was officially formed, founder Michio Suzuki pioneered a new type of textile loom design after watching his Mother using her labour intensive and primitive device at home to weave cloth. Michio’s ground-breaking design principle meant that his Mother could work at 10 times the speed as before and with a lot less fatigue too with its unique thread loading shuttle system.

Michio Suzuki began selling his patented design to local people and his company grew rapidly with a loom that customers could fully depend on for reliability and ease of use. It was when the Cotton industry crashed in 1951 that Suzuki looked to then diversify his skills into transport.

Riding his pedal cycle in strong headwinds one day, Michio’s son Kunzo Suzuki realised he could make his daily journey much easier by designing his own simple motor-assisted cycle and with his R&D team demonstrated the ‘Power Free’ 36cc motorcycle which became the brainchild for the launch of the global Suzuki Motorcycle brand from 1953.

After initial R&D before the outbreak of World War two, Suzuki’s first car emerged in 1955 with lightweight and innovative design and a two-stroke 360cc engine. Known as the Suzulight (pictured above), it was developed by a team of just six people. It was the first car to utilise coil spring independent suspension and rack and pinion steering and its popularity quickly grew with further models added by 1960. This year the brand also celebrates the 50th Anniversary of its 4×4 models since the launch of its lightweight and ‘go-anywhere’ LJ10 Jimny.

On the water, the first outboard motor was launched in 1965 with a one-cylinder, 5.5hp engine. Today, more than 25 different types are offered, ranging from the DF2.5 right up to DF350 with its 3.4-litre V6 engine offering 300hp. Similarly, the first Suzuki ATV or Quad Bike was launched in 1982.

This year, Suzuki has won the 2020 MotoGP world championship, with Joan Mir crowned champion after finishing seventh at the penultimate round of the season at Valencia. Mir becomes the sixth rider to win the biggest prize in motorcycle racing with Suzuki, after Britain’s Barry Sheene first took the premier class world title for the Japanese manufacturer in 1976.

Suzuki, the smallest of the Japanese factories in MotoGP, has consistently punched above its weight in Grand Prix racing. The brand took back-to-back titles with Sheene in 1976 and 1977, with the Briton winning 11 races across both seasons. Two more back-to-back titles followed in 1981 and 1982, with Italians Marco Lucchinelli and Franco Uncini winning a championship each. Charismatic American Kevin Schwantz lifted the gong in 1993, before his compatriot Kenny Roberts Jr. was crowned champion in 2000, Suzuki’s last premier class title.

Suzuki took a sabbatical from Grand Prix racing after the 2011 season, returning with an all-new machine in 2015.  Just six seasons later – and in a year that marks the 100th anniversary of Suzuki Motor Corporation – Joan Mir joins an exclusive list of riders to have taken motorcycling’s biggest prize.

Suzuki Press