Happy birthday

The biggest is probably the 50th birthday of the original Mini, which will be a huge event around the world, but there are also centenary celebrations for two very different carmakers.

Audi and Suzuki are both celebrating 100 years in business in 2009.

So Audi has a long history and among the many intesting stories is the use of four interlocked rings as its corporate symbol. They stand for the four individual brands which once made up the Audi company - Audi itself, DWK, NSU and Auto Union.

But few people remember that Audi was owned by Daimler-Benz in the 1950s, before becoming part of the Volkswagen empire.

Suzuki is a very different story, as it was not a carmaker at all in the early days.

Instead, Michio Suzuki founded a loom company in 1909 in the city of Hamamatsu in Japan and it was not until 1937 that he saw the potential to build a small car. After two years and a range of protypes he settled on a tiny car with an 800cc four-cylinder engine.

That model was used when Suzuki returned to making cars after World War II and has made the company the largest Japanese makers of compact cars, which it even badges for sale as Nissans.

But it was not an easy run, as the loom market collapsed after the war and Suzuki rebuilt his company with a motorised bicycle called the Power Free.

Australia was one of the first companies to import Suzukis and a batch of 125cc Colleda bikes arrived in January 1960.

But the big breakthrough here came with the arrival of the first Suzuki four-wheel drive, the baby LJ10, in 1968. Since then a range of rugged little off-roaders have done the job, up to the latest Jimny and more luxurious Grand Vitara.

Sales have jumped by more than 200 per cent in Australia since 2004, making Suzuki the country's fastest growing brand.

Globally, Suzuki is still relatively small with just 50,000 employees, but its products sell in more than 190 countries and its production total of two million vehicles a year - matched by a similar number of motorcycles and a growing number of outboard motors - puts it ahead of Mazda, Mercedes-Benz and BMW on the worldwide sales charts.