There’s no doubt that Vitara (launched 1988) was the car that helped Suzuki make the biggest impression on the global mainstream stage. It was one of the first models to blend the compact-SUV format with urban fashion appeal, and although the earlier generations remained hard-core off-roaders, Vitara also foreshadowed the crossover revolution sparked by the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.
However, Vitara wasn’t Suzuki’s first breakthrough export model. The car that turned the brand from a Japanese curiosity into a global name came much earlier (and was much smaller/sillier): the Cervo (meaning “stag” or “deer”) SC100.
In 1955, Suzuki was the first Japanese maker to sell a mainstream “kei jidosha” car – a special domestic tax class with strict limits on dimensions and engine size that still exists today (currently 3.4m long, 660cc or less). One of Suzuki’s more interesting kei-cars was the 1971 Fronte coupe, a Giugiaro-designed mini-GT based on the rear-engined Fronte sedan. That in turn evolved into the Cervo SS220 - which unfortunately was heavier and slower than the original, despite bulking up from a 360cc to 550cc engine. And all still very much Japanese-market stuff.
But in 1978, Suzuki created a version of the Cervo specifically for export: the SC100 (above). With a 1.0-litre/35kW four-cylinder engine, it was much more to international tastes than the tiny engined Japanese model and was enthusiastically received in Europe, Hong Kong, South Africa, Latin America… and New Zealand. Not a big seller, but desired by those in the know.
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In the UK, it even got a marketing nickname that stuck – “Whizzkid” – and the cult appeal was cemented by a celebrity owner.
LJK Setright, the most famous and idiosyncratic motoring journalist in the world in an era before Jeremy Clarkson and “new” Top Gear, owned an SC100 and was an enthusiastic promoter.
The car itself was short-lived: production only lasted from 1978-82. Suzuki acknowledged the heritage status of the SC100 in 2016 with the Ignis city car (above), which rebooted some key Cervo styling cues: the grille framing the headlights and wrapping around the front guards, the thick rear C-pillar with a trio of faux-cooling strakes (for an engine that isn’t there, it’s up front in the Ignis) and tall, rectangular tail-lights.
As it happens, the Ignis also references the Swift’s “floating roof” and Vitara’s clamshell bonnet/vent detail. So we’re back where we started, right?