The Suzuki Alto Happy Prince is one of the coolest small Chinese cars ever made. It was a top-spec variant of the Suzuki Alto five-door hatchback, made in China by the Changan-Suzuki joint venture. The Happy Prince name was only used in China. I saw this fine blue example in central Beijing in 2014, parked in front of a Zhuan Ye Food Health Center.
The second-generation Suzuki Alto has a convoluted history in China. It was made officially by Changan-Suzuki. There was also licensed production by, among others, Jiangnan Auto. And then there were dozens of semi-legal and illegal half-copies and fill-copies. One day I’ll write a book about the Alto in China. Production at Changan-Suzuki started in 1988. Over the years, the joint venture launched dozens of variants and special editions. The Happy Prince debuted in 2000 and production ended in 2008.
The Happy Prince got a fake hood scoop, big round fog lights in the front- and rear bumpers, a body kit, extra bodywork on the doors, roof rails, two-tone paint, sporty six-spoke wheels, black door handles, and ladder-like extensions on each side of the rear window.
The Chinese name of the Alto was 奥拓 (Ào tuò) and the Happy Prince was 快乐王子 (Kuàilè Wángzǐ). It came with this brilliant sticker that sat in a small recess on the bodywork over the rear door. Most of the text is in English, which was unusual. It says: ” New Alto Style. 快乐王子. We offer the ultimate Happy Prince let those getting happiness enjoy life keep on moving.”
The Suzuki Alto Happy Prince had a 0.8-liter 3-cylinder gasoline engine with 36 hp and 61 Nm under the hood. Horses went to the front wheels via a four-speed manual gearbox. It had a top speed of 120 km/h and 0-100 took… 37 seconds. Not a quick car but its coolness more than made up for that. Fuel consumption was 4.0 liter per 100 kilometers. But that number was based on an average city-car speed of 40 km/h. The Alto Happy Prince sold for only 39.800 yuan (2008), and that was a good deal for a 4-seat car with such a fuzzy name.
Characters in gold: 长安奥拓, Cháng’ān Aotà, or Changan Alto. This is how the car was known in China. The Suzuki name was rarely mentioned. The Alto only had a Suzuki badge on the nose, and a Changan badge on the back. ‘SC7080B’ is the official designation of the Alto Happy Prince. At the time it was obligatory for Chinese car makers to print the full designation of every car. Nowadays it is only obligatory for commercial vehicles. The EFI sticker on the right refers to the electronic fuel injection system. That was quite rare at the time, especially for such a small car.
I seriously considered a Suzuki Alto when I was shopping for a car in China in the very early 2000s. It was even cheaper then, selling for 36.800 yuan, and I thought it was the coolest car on the planet. It was easy to use and cost next to nothing to run. I went to a Changan-Suzuki dealer and tried one out. But no matter how cool, it was just too small for me, and with great sadness, I decided not to buy one. After trying out some other cars I bought a Beijing-Jeep.