Suzuki Motor Corporation has announced its technology strategy for the next decade. As per the company statement, the Japanese automaker will realise a “technology that minimizes energy consumption” from manufacturing to recycling and aim for a carbon-neutral world while providing the joy of transportation to people all over the world.
SMC has a five-pronged tech strategy, as detailed below:
Light-weight and Safety Body
Compact and light vehicles, which are Suzuki’s speciality, not only reduce CO2 emissions during use, but also reduce the resources and CO2 emissions in production, thus contributing to resource conservation and CO2 reduction. Suzuki will further evolve the lightweight and safety body “HEARTECT,” and also work to minimize energy consumption through weight reduction technology.
Lean-Battery BEV/HEV (Battery Electric Vehicle/Hybrid Electric Vehicle)
With the aim to provide customers with the most energy-efficient electric vehicles based on the renewal energy ratio and usage conditions in each country and region, Suzuki will be developing electric vehicles that minimize energy consumption by combining components that embody “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi” such as a small and efficient electric unit, and a small and light battery.
High-efficiency ICE/CNF Technology
(ICE: Internal Combustion Engine, CNF: Carbon Neutral Fuel)
In 2023, Suzuki developed a high-efficiency engine (the Z12E Engine) that pursues improved combustion, which is the core of internal combustion engines, and achieved a maximum thermal efficiency of 40%. In the future, the company will extend this high-efficiency engine worldwide and achieve minimizing energy consumption by carbon-neutral fuel and next-generation hybrids.
SDV right (SDV: Software Defined Vehicle)
Also, in the field of SDV, Suzuki will be developing and providing our customers with the “SDV right,” an affordable system that creates value for vehicles by embodying minimization of energy consumption with “Sho-Sho-Kei-Tan-Bi.” This translates into ease of software updates for user, with the best mix of wired and wireless over-the-air (OTA) updates.
Easy Recyclability and Disassembly Design
The conventional economic system is called a linear economy, which the flow of raw material extraction, product manufacturing, utilization, and disposal is unidirectional. This has caused mass consumption of energy, resource depletion and environmental destruction.
In the future, Suzuki will achieve minimal energy consumption with circular economy which is to save the total use of resources by designing products that can be easily disassembled with recycling and reuse in mind.
In January 2023, SMC had announced its future growth 2030 strategy aimed at realization of a carbon-neutral society and the economic growth of emerging countries such as India, ASEAN, and Africa, with its main business regions, Japan, India, and Europe, as the core.
India, which is SMC’s largest global market, has been earmarked to see the launch of six BEVs by FY2030. To provide a full range of products and services, Suzuki will provide not only battery EVs but also carbon neutral internal combustion engine vehicles that use CNG, biogas, and ethanol mixed fuels.
