Suzuki Bolan retires after 40 years in production

The Suzuki Bolan microvan that had been made in Pakistan for the past four decades is officially no more.

The Bolan was originally based on the 1979MY, seventh-gen Suzuki Carry microvan for Japan. The company has hardly ever updated the model since launching the assembly lines in Pakistan in 1983. Up until now, the Bolan has left the assembly line in that country equipped with an outdated 800cc (0,8-liter) engine only compliant with the Euro-2 standard. Suzuki tried offering it with an air conditioner on one occasion, but this option sold very poorly, so it gave up.

The reason for the demise of the $7,000 baby van lies in a new law recently adopted by the country. According to it, all new street-legal vehicles are to be equipped with a mandatory driver-side airbag. The Bolan has no airbag and isn’t easy to redesign to have one.

Over the past years, Suzuki had delivered around 1,150,000 Bolans. Starting in October, the company’s factory in Pakistan will switch to making a new minivan called Every, based on the 2015 Suzuki Carry chassis.