Since the Japanese carmaker Suzuki began producing 4-wheel passenger and small commercial vehicles, the business has found success with its compact automobiles. Although Suzuki is still a well-known brand in our region of the world, it has never been successful in the sedan market.
Suzuki did make some high-quality sedans from time to time, but they were never able to build on their brief success. In our market, cars like the Suzuki Margalla (Swift Esteem), Baleno, Liana, and Ciaz experienced some solid sales, but aside from the Margalla, none was truly able to challenge their rivals. Even in other regional markets, Suzuki presently only offers the Ciaz sedan, which is already more than 8 years old and has no immediate plans to be replaced.
Going back in time, Suzuki’s Fronte 800 car, which debuted in August 1965, was its first effort to compete in a higher market sector. Suzuki chose to keep using the name Front since it was already a well-known car in the kei car category and it would help with publicity; just the suffix 800 was added.
What does Fronte 800 mean? Its three-cylinder, two-stroke (785 cc) engine, which generated 40 hp and 79 Nm and allowed for a peak speed of 115 km/h, is what gave the vehicle its power. Only a fully synchronized 4-speed column-mounted manual gearbox was offered with the Fronte 800. The Standard version’s introductory price was 465,000 dollars, while the DeLuxe version cost 545,000.
It was only offered as a two-door sedan, and Suzuki’s principal designer Sasaki Toru created a contemporary “soapbox” design with a lot of glass. Wishbones in the front and trailing arms in the back were used for suspension, while drum brakes were used on all four wheels.
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