The Suzuki Alto was first designed for the Japanese Kei Class market and launched in 1979.

Suzuki Alto

Fitted with a 3 cyl 550 cc engine in Japan to come under the Japanese Kei Class laws, the Alto also had the option of a 800cc engine that made the car more popular in export markets. Many other car makers at the time that offered these micro sized cars could only offer a 660cc engine, as the largest size available as this was the limit set by Japan’ s Kei Class laws that offer cheaper tax rates to small cars.

The Alto has evolved over the years and today is available with a 1.1 litre 4 cyl as well as turbo sports option.

The Alto is also built in India by Maruti Udyog, a company who was set up as a partnership by Suzuki and the Indian Government. The Maruti 800, the Maruti Zen, and the Maruti Alto are based on the ’86, ’94, and ’02 Alto, respectively. All Indian models are only available with five doors. The 2nd generation Alto based Mauruti 800 is still sold today and has only recently been knocked off the top sellers list by the Alto itself. In Korea Daewoo produced a car for quite some time know as a Tico that was based on the 1982 Alto. The Tico was later replaced by Daewoo’s Matiz.  The Alto was also manufactured by Suzuki for Mazda as the Carol at first in 1989 with a unique exterior and interior design with later models being a straight badge swap design.  

In Australia the Alto was sold as a light commercial vehicle from 1980 to 1985 known as the Suzuki Hatch and as an Alto from 1985 to 1989, it was a 2 door hatch with no rear seats. Its main rival was the Daihatsu Handivan. it was first released with a 550cc engine, later the option of the 800 cc engine was introduced as well. This model shared many of its components with the Suzuki Mighty Boy ute. The name Alto was reintroduced between 1995 and 1998 as a passenger car where the engine size had evolved to 1 litre.