A single-seat 50cc moped car put on the market by Suzuki in 1981

When people think of the ‘most basic car’ in Japan, they generally think of kei cars, but there is a category of micro cars and moped cars that are even more minimal transporters than that class. The Suzuki CV1 is introduced here. It is a one-seater compact car with a displacement of 50 cc, marketed in 1981 by Suzuki, which is also known as the top manufacturer of kei-cars.

It was Suzuki’s next move after the success of the first-generation Alto

The creation of the minimal transporter in the first place was often heavily influenced by the historical background. For example, during World War II, small electric cars and pedal cars were made in Nazi Germany-occupied France, and after the war, primitive small cars and bubble cars sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, mainly in defeated countries such as Germany, Italy and Japan. …… and so on.

Many of these were necessitated by a period of resource scarcity and enduring deprivation. The Japanese moped car, which was seen in large numbers around 1980, could also be said to be a vehicle or genre born out of the trends of the times.

The Fourth Middle East War of 1973 and the Iranian Revolution of 1979, each of which led to two oil crises in the 1970s. The huge rise in oil prices had a major impact not only on Japan but also on the rest of the world. It was around this time that words such as “energy-saving” and “resource-saving” came into use.

In 1979, the Suzuki Alto made its debut in the world of light cars, which until then had been so busy with excessive luxury and power competition that they had almost forgotten what they were really about: cheap, light, and convenient. The Alto, which returned to the origins of the kei car, was a huge hit, and it seemed to change the tide of the Japanese kei car scene at once. Suzuki, which advocated “small car, big future”, was prepared to take a further step. This was the Suzuki Community Vehicle CV1, which was exhibited at the 24th Tokyo Motor Show in 1981.

Developed as a simple and inexpensive vehicle, smaller and simpler than a kei-car

According to Suzuki’s documentation at the time, the CV1 “was prototyped as an all-weather vehicle that can be used safely and securely by family bike users, with an eye on the state of vehicles in urban and rural areas, traffic congestion and energy conservation issues”.

The development concept includes statements such as “fuel economy of 50 km/liter, easy operation for everyone, 1/4 the weight of a mini car, half the parking space of a mini car, and a low price with no waste that anyone can easily afford”.

The legal definition of a moped car, incidentally, is an ordinary vehicle with a displacement of 50 cc or less or a motor with a rated output of 0.6 kW or less, and its size is 2.5 m in length, 1.3 m in width and 2 m in height or less. Of course, this CV1 is also kept under those dimensions (length 1900 mm x width 1180 mm x height 1280 mm) and is powered by a 3.5 hp air-cooled two-stroke 49.9 cc engine for the company’s 50 cc scooter, the Gemma.