Suzuki Fronte 800

Suzuki
Front 800 1965
Front 800
Sales designation:	Front 800
Production period:	1965-1969
Class :	Small car
Body versions :	limousine
Engines:	Otto engine : 0.79 liters (30 kW)
Length:	3870 mm
Width:	1480 mm
Height:	1360 mm
Wheelbase :	2200 mm
Empty weight :	770 kg
successor	Suzuki Cultus

The Suzuki Fronte 800 was a Japanese small car that Suzuki produced from 1965 to 1969 and which was then part of the compact class .

Model history

With the Fronte 800 sold from December 1965, Suzuki tried to enter a higher market segment than that of the Suzuki Suzulight and the smaller model Suzuki Fronte . The name was taken from this in order to save marketing costs and because it was already known to the public.

A four-door 700 cc prototype was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1962 . Another prototype was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1963 and production was announced. However, another pre-production model was shown at the 1964 Motor Show, with the market launch announced in the spring of the following year. In fact, production of the largely hand-built model did not begin until August 1965.

The two-door sedan was designed by the then Suzuki chief designer Sasaki Toru . However, sales were low as the car was in direct competition with popular cars such as the Toyota Publica and Datsun Sunny . These had modern engines, in contrast to the Suzuki, which now had an overhauled two-stroke engine .

So the Fronte 800 was only sparsely developed. The biggest change in April 1966 were separate front seats instead of a bench, which from June 1966 could also be folded down into loungers - initially at an additional cost. In August 1966, the sale of the standard version was discontinued, and only the De-Luxe version (including reclining seats) was offered. In April 1969, production was stopped after fewer than 3000 copies had been built. In addition to the required production capacity for the bestseller Suzuki Fronte , reasons were also the inability of Suzuki to price the model in such a way that it could have competed with the major domestic manufacturers in the highly competitive Japanese market segment. Suzuki then limited itself to kei-car models until the introduction of the Cultus model in 1983 .

technology

The three-cylinder two-stroke petrol engine with a displacement of 785 cm³ was very similar to the 796 cm³ two-stroke of the DKW Junior . The top speed was 115 km / h and the power was transmitted to the front wheels by means of a fully synchronized 4-speed manual transmission, the lever of which was mounted on the steering wheel. The 5-seater sedan cost 465,000 yen for the standard model and 545,000 yen for the de-luxe version.

Front 1100

A 1.1 liter version of the engine had been developed for a planned Fronte 1100 model. The engine structure was the same as the engine of the DKW F102 with 68 HP and 1175 cm³; thanks to a triple Solex carburetor, the Suzuki unit with 80 hp was much more powerful. The Fronte 1100 equipped with front disc brakes reached a top speed of 160 km / h. However, Suzuki decided against not building a production model, although the motorists increasingly demanded more power and the Suzuki Fronte 1100 could at least initially have kept up with the competing offers from the larger manufacturers.

Web links

Commons : Suzuki Fronte 800 (C10)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files