Here we have an ultra cool Changan-Suzuki Alto City Baby, seen in the faraway suburbs of Beijing. The Alto was in an extremely good shape, and that is very rare, as most who have survived until today look beaten up to the max. This one must have a loving owner!
The second generation (CA71) Suzuki Alto was made by the Changan-Suzuki joint venture from 1988 all the way until 2008. Over the years the company launched literally dozens of trim levels and special editions. One of those was the beautifully named City Baby.
The City Baby arrived in 1999. Power came from a 0.8 liter 3-cylinder petrol engine with 54hp and 60nm, mated to a four-speed (!) manual gearbox.
Everything you see on this car was standard: the plastic cladding on the doors, the sporty wheels, the mud flaps, the roof rails, and of course…
… the precious City Baby badge.
The Suzuki Alto has a long and confusing history in China. It was manufactured by Changan-Suzuki, but besides that Suzuki also licensed the Alto to various smaller Chinese car makers. Next to that, there were many copies and clones. Production of many of these variants continues until today, and there is even an electric version.
A very basic interior, with the original radio cassette player! Seat covers and steering wheel cover are after-market.
Enough space for the small family.
The Alto was extremely popular in period, and there are still zillions around, but good ones are becoming scarce. When I arrived in China in 2003 I considered buying an Alto Happy Prince, but I found it just a tad too small, and small it is: 3300/1410/1405, and wheelbase is 2175.
Note the fog light on the left side. They all had it like this; hanging under the bumper like an afterthought.
This is a busy badge. On the left the Changan logo. To the right of that, above, the car’s designation: SC7081A. Below that the name of the car in Chinese: Changan Aota, with Aota being the Chinese name for Alto.
Super cool airbag sticker on the rear window. It had only one bag; for the driver. Below the window an Alto badge and then EPi, which stood for electronic petrol injection.
It is just such a fantastically simply thing, providing basic transportation, while being small enough to park it anywhere in a big city like Beijing. They just don’t make too many cars like this anymore…
When I see an Alto in this shape, I almost wish I had bought one back in 2003 😪.
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Production of a similar car also still occurs in Pakistan. I was there last month and rode in a couple of them as Ubers. No rear seat belts, but at least they have factory air conditioning….important when the apparent temperature is almost 50°C!
https://www.paksuzuki.com.pk/SuzukiProducts/ProductDetails/20
It was quite interesting; Suzuki was easily the most popular brand, with nearly all other cars being either Toyota or Honda, and most people riding <100 cc motorcycles. I did see a few small FAW and Geely in Lahore, but in Islamabad it was very homogenous—there were no Chinese cars at all.
Pak Suzuki also still make a very outdated version of the Carry van and ute, which were also very popular.
https://www.paksuzuki.com.pk/SuzukiProducts/ProductDetails/18