Tour of Suzuki motorcycle engine, final assembly plants in Japan

The Suzuki Motor Corporation was founded by Michio Suzuki in 1909 as a manufacturer of weaving machines. From its base in Hamamatsu, Japan, the Suzuki Loom Works, as it was then known, supplied weaving equipment to hundreds of small fabrics manufacturers in and between Tokyo, Yokohama and Nagoya. At the time, textile manufacturing was one of Japan's biggest industries. It provided a growing and stable market for the Suzuki enterprise. In 1920, Michio Suzuki took his company public and named the new firm Suzuki Loom Manufacturing Company.

Surprisingly, however, 32 years later the heart of the new Suzuki product line was a small 36cc engine that could be used to motorize bicycles. Production of the moped, called the Power Free, began in 1952, prompting Suzuki to abandon weaving equipment entirely. In conjunction with the introduction of the new product line, the company changed its name to Suzuki Motor Co., Ltd. in 1954, the same year it introduced its first motorcycle, the Colleda.

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