The tiny sports car- The history of the Suzuki Cappuccino #blog

Introduction

Today I am going to give you a little history lesson about the Suzuki Cappuccino.
The Suzuki Cappuccino is a small sports car built for the kei car class in Japan, and is built in Kosai, Shizuoka, Japan.
It is well known as being a part of the “ABC” trio, which includes the Autozam AZ-1 (and Suzuki Cara), Honda Beat, and Suzuki Cappuccino.
There were a couple of other sports kei cars, but the ABC trio were the three most popular sports kei cars, and they competed against each other in the 90s.
The first Cappuccino was shown in 1989.
Suzuki no longer makes the Cappuccino.

Concept drawings

Here are some concept drawings for the Cappuccino. As you can see, they have an emphasis on the removable roof panels.

Suzuki Cappuccino Prototype

The prototype Cappuccino was finished in white and featured 2 piece roof rather than the 3 piece on the final production model.

1989 Suzuki Cappuccino Concept

In 1989 a concept for the Suzuki Cappuccino was shown. It was a 2 seat convertible that had a mid front mounted engine. It also had a backwards opening bonnet.
The final production model remained almost identical to the concept.

1991 Suzuki Cappucino (EA11R)

The Cappuccino releases in Japan and retains the look of the concept model. It had the inline 3 cylinder 657cc, F6A engine that powered the rear wheels.
They were also sold in the UK in 1993, however only 1,182 were made to UK spec. The easiest way to spot a UK Cappuccino from a JDM one is by looking at the side indicators. The JDM ones lie flat with the body, and the UK ones stick out.

The Cappuccino only came in 2 colours for the UK, Silver and Red, and the Japanese got 3 extra colours, Green, Blue and Black.
The Cappuccinos roof could be removed in sections. The top of the roof had 3 panels. removing the two outer ones gave you T-top configuration, removing all three gave you a Tagra top, and the rear glass could be lowered into the body to make the Cappuccino a full roadster. A bag was included so you could safely store the roof panels in the boot.
The Cappuccino also has a near 50/50 weight distribution when both seats are occupied.

The specs 1991-1994

Japan: Chassis Code: EA11R
•F6A
•657cc Inline 3
•Turbo
•63HP @6,500RPM
•85NM @4,000RPM
•Red Line 8,500 RPM
•679KG
•0-60 11.3 Seconds
•5 Speed Manual
•Limited Slip Differential
•Front-Mid Engine Rear Wheel Drive

1995 Suzuki Cappuccino (EA21R)

In 1995 Suzuki facelifted the Cappuccino. Its looks didn’t change, however its engine did.
They upgraded the engine to the K6A. The K6A has one more cc of displacement and uses aluminium in its construction. It also has a higher torque output too.
The Cappuccino stayed in production until 1998, when it was discontinued.

The specs 1995-1998

Japan: Chassis Code: EA21R
•K6A
•658cc Inline 3
•Turbo
•63HP @6,500RPM
•103NM @3,500RPM
•Red Line 7,500 RPM
•689-700KG
•0-60 ???
•5 Speed Manual or 3 speed automatic
•Limited Slip Differential
•Front-Mid Engine Rear Wheel Drive

The Cappuccinos popularity

The Cappuccino became a very popular JDM car and is one of the better known kei cars outside of Japan. The reason for this is likely due to its appearance in a popular Anime called Initial D which helped people from all over the world to discover sports kei cars for the first time.

The end of the Cappuccino

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and Suzuki stopped making it in 1998. They made some concepts for a potential replacement, but it seems that they don’t plan on making another sports kei car for real.
But who knows? Honda and Daihatsu are making sports kei cars today, so maybe Suzuki will join in on the fun sometime soon?

1997 Suzuki C2 Concept

1999 Suzuki EV Sport Concept

2001 Suzuki GSX-R/4 Concept

I really hope you enjoyed reading it! (^-^)
I will add to this post if any new Cappuccino news appears.
If you want to read about another sports kei car, why not read about the Copen?
I will likely make another one of these for the Beat, AZ-1/Cara and Leeza Spyder sometime in the future.