Is the standard revision a big chance for rare and rare cars?
The 9th generation Alto is still on sale as Suzuki’s basic light car, but in the 3rd generation that appeared in 1988, cheap FF light bonnet vans were available from other companies as well as the Alto.
On the other hand, due to the tax system reform, the merits of light commercial vehicles from a tax perspective have diminished, and it was thought that the best-selling cars in the future would shift to light passenger cars. It was also a time when the creation of a sense of values was desired.
A unique kei car that was born in such a situation was the “Alto Slide Slim”, which is also exhibited at the Suzuki Historical Museum, and was a sliding door car combined with a rotating driver’s seat.
The 3rd generation Alto, which appeared with an appearance and engine in anticipation of 660cc
The third-generation Alto, which underwent a model change in September 1988, underwent a fairly large-scale model change, with tax reforms slated for automobile-related tax reforms scheduled for the following year, and an increase in displacement to 660cc due to a standard revision two years later. was broken.
The overall length was extended by 100mm in the later revision of the standard, and it seems that it was in line with the larger front bumper. is planned.
In addition, the rear quarter glass behind the door has a wider area so that it wraps around the top of the body, improving lighting and a sense of openness. Efforts were made to improve the sense of crampedness.
Although the engine remains the same within the 550cc range, the 543cc displacement “F5A” was updated to the 547cc “F5B” with a bore x stroke of 65.0mm x 55.0mm to match the F6A after the 660cc bore (cylinder inner diameter). The F6A has a longer stroke of 65.0mm x 66.0mm and 657cc).
The Alto Works, which appeared at the end of the previous generation and was popular, continued with its unique design with two round eyes, and although the tall cargo walk-through van was abolished, the full gonetto type “Alto Hustle” appeared after the 660cc. There were many variations such as
Mini passenger car version Fronte (7th generation) integrated in just half a year
However, the biggest change came in April 1989 with the abolishment of the excise tax due to tax reform. .
Until then, Suzuki had been selling two products, the light commercial vehicle (light bonnet van) “Alto” and the mini passenger car “Fronte,” but unified both vehicle names into the “Alto,” which had been established as the main model.
With this, the traditional car name “Fronte”, which lasted for about 27 years since 1962, disappeared, and the 7th generation Fronte, which was remodeled at the same time as the 3rd generation Alto, was discontinued in just half a year, becoming a rare short-lived car in the domestic car market. .
At the same time, Daihatsu also abolished “Cuore” from the domestic mini passenger car name and unified it to “Mira” (it will continue to be used for overseas).
Birth of Alto Slide Slim, a unique sliding door on both sides
Alto had a “rotating driver’s seat” on the special edition car “Juna” for women, which was sold from the middle of the second generation.
However, the concept is different from the swivel passenger seat that is currently equipped with welfare vehicles, and it is “convenient for women wearing skirts to get on and off with their legs aligned”, and the 3rd generation Alto further strengthens the elements for women. Sliding door car, set “sliding slim”.
With a typical rear-opening hinged door, it is necessary to open the door wide so that both feet do not get caught in the rotating driver’s seat. No, but with a sliding door, you don’t have to worry about that!
Because it has sliding doors on both sides, it is “slim” because it can be parked in a narrow space. It may be that I thought about applying it to welfare vehicles.
In any case, it was a sliding door that did not have an opening and closing assist, so when parked on a steep slope, the weight of the sliding door itself suddenly opened and closed, and on the contrary, it was difficult to open and close, and it was easy to open and close the door. is said to have had difficulties.
660cc and left-right asymmetry of slide slim
In January 1990, mini-vehicle standards were revised to increase the displacement limit to 660cc and increase the overall length by 100mm.
The front and rear bumpers were enlarged to balance the appearance, and the Alto Works was registered as a 5-number passenger car, but the biggest change was the Alto Slide Slim, which had a sliding door only on the driver’s side and a 5-door car on the passenger’s side. The same anteroposterior hinged door as the left and right asymmetrical 4 door.
Since there is no rotating driver’s seat, not only did they eliminate the needless front passenger side sliding door, but they may have tried to reduce the risk of accidents by removing the driver’s side sliding door, which is sure to be used by adults to get in and out. .
Although it didn’t have an electric power sliding door, it seems that it was around this time that an auto-closure was installed to prevent the door from being left open. Then, it seems that it was severe in terms of cost.
As a result, the slide slim disappeared from the catalog in the middle of the third-generation 660cc version, and was not included in the Alto after that.
The bonnet type FF mini passenger car with a sliding door was set again in the Mitsubishi eK wagon (passenger side rear seat only), which was remodeled to the second generation in September 2006. It was a rail type, modern electric power sliding door.
* The author information of the images used in this article is as of the publication date.