Suzuki to build its first small car engine in 16 years

Suzuki to build its first small car engine in 16 yearsAccording to reports, Suzuki is planning to build its first new small car engine in 16 years. The planned block is a 660cc unit, which is expected to deliver a fuel economy figure of 27 km per litre, an improvement of 20% over the company’s current engines.

With market conditions being what they are, and fuel prices continuing to climb, going the small displacement route will allow Suzuki to increase its competitiveness in developing cheaper models for both established and emerging markets, a pertinent point given the competition coming about, notably in India. It will also allow better domestic penetration, given that nearly 40% of Japanese passenger car sales are from the minicar segment.

The company is set to spend close to US$250 mil over a period of three years to retool its Sagara plant in Japan to build the new engine, the report quoted, adding that it is expected to first make its appearance in the MR Wagon before becoming the definitive block for all of the company’s minicars.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • Triton on Jan 07, 2011 at 1:30 pm

    Is it going to be the size of a Kancil ?

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  • planning in 16 years?
    what kind of planning is this, drag so long, will it still be effective?

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    • Critique on Jan 07, 2011 at 5:55 pm

      Err Dude, “Suzuki is planning to build its first new small car engine in 16 years” simply means its their first NEW SMALL CAR engine in 16 years… I don’t think they took 16 yrs to plan to build it.

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    • I think what the editor meant was ‘For the first time in almost 16 years’, not 16 years from now.

      16 years ago they did produced 660cc engine.

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  • wah time to compete with daihatsu in kei car segment.

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  • 27 km per litre, ..wow…how much viva 660cc or kancil 660cc FC?

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  • Kevin Lee on Jan 07, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    please bring back the days of the good ol’ suzuki capuccino

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  • Bring it on!

    With 27km/l and crude oil going steadily toward 100s per barrel, Suzuki car like Alto with this type of engine will sell.

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  • Creative Mind on Jan 07, 2011 at 4:18 pm

    It would be interesting to know what they plan to put into the car with this 660cc… not too basic, cause with no power steering, the car gets very hard to move about. how about safety features? small car doesn’t mean they can neglect safety. And being in the tropics, aircon is a must. Should be interesting how they plan to fit in basic features while maintaining good fuel consumption. The other is price factor… how much they intend to benchmark against viva? if 2k to 3k, some of us might consider suzuki… too big a gap, no point. Viva basic model is pretty decent, the exclusive one is another class by itself. So suzuki, how u plan to go about?

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  • nasha on Jan 07, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    my swift consumes 11.2km/l for 90% city driving 10% highway. not sure whether this is jimat minyak or not.

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    • Peterpj on Jan 07, 2011 at 5:21 pm

      Not really. My 2 litre Focus gets me 12km/l with about the same 90:10 ratio.

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    • Peterpj on Jan 07, 2011 at 5:23 pm

      I miss my Kelisa though. Used to get fantastic fuel economy while trashing it out. So in my opinion small cc engines is not the only factor, but must have good power (or is it torque) to weight ratio.

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    • I’m driving Swift too & for mixed driving (highway & city) I get around 14km/l. So around 11km/l is considered high. I get that figure with my ex-1996 C200.

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  • Aragon on Jan 07, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    I hope a new Cultus will emerge…a new pocket rocket for us..

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  • Aragon on Jan 07, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    Just bring back the Swift GTi or Cultus. No need to waste money..

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  • ezracopters on Jan 07, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    r u sure..11.2km/L for a Swift??? even my Manual 1.6 S. Neo consume 7.0L/100km @ 14.28km/L..

    anyway, Mr Anthony did Suzuki ever produce 660cc engine before?? (i mean 16 years ago).. how was it performed?

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  • jackspeed on Jan 07, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    are they going to swap the engine from GSX-R 600 superbike and tune it for more cc?

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  • scoobydoo on Jan 07, 2011 at 10:19 pm

    plonk in the hayabusa engine into the cappucino!!!!

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  • Al Cappuccino on Jan 08, 2011 at 8:27 am

    I wonder what the torque out put will be (power will be limited to kei-class regulation 63bhp).

    I’ve got one of their previous 660cc engines in a Suzuki Cappuccino and it performs remarkably for such a small engine.

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  • Alto in Japanese is using 660cc..
    and there’s actually many suzuki using 660cc in Japan.
    check it out.
    http://www.batfa.com/new-suzuki.htm

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  • pomenGTR on Jan 09, 2011 at 11:07 am

    yeah bring back the suzuki cappucino! tasty

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  • Suzuki (jimny) SJ30 was using 660cc engine and produced in 1981..

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  • amjid ghaffar on Apr 04, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    suzuki custom was a veary good fule frindly small car i m working on it personaly.i ma mechanical associate engineer and study about cars engin ,suspencion and body is my hoby

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  • Playtolmeme on Jun 24, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    Not bad.

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  • Playtolmeme on Jun 24, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    Small yet better engine is welcomed

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