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Isuzu, dumping product, posts highest sales since 2000
Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Plants/Manufacturing, Isuzu 
Aggressive dealer cash incentives ranging from $4,000 to $8,000 on vehicles has helped Isuzu record its first quarterly sales increase in nearly eight years. The news of 2,007 new units out the door follows the not-so-shocking report earlier this year that Isuzu is abandoning the U.S. market -- ergo the fire sale.
There are 201 Isuzu dealers in the U.S. right now, and all are tasked with clearing the balance of their inventory by Jan. 31, 2009. If you've got the hots for an Ascender SUV or an i-290 / i-370 pickup, now would be a great time to take a stroll over to...
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CONFIRMED: Isuzu abandoning U.S. market
Filed under: Isuzu 
Isuzu has officially announced that it's leaving the U.S. market and discontinuing sales of its i-Series pickup and Ascender SUV. Both vehicles are produced via a joint venture with General Motors, the i-Series being based on the Chevy Colorado/GMC Canyon pickups and the Ascender being a rebadged version of the Chevy Trailblazer. Reuters reports that it will cost Isuzu some $37 million to bug out, mostly in dealer buyouts and other move-related costs. Though the Japanese automaker will not be selling vehicles in the States, it will continue to provide parts for service. Its reason for leaving is basically...
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Isuzu plans Alabama truck plant
Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Plants/Manufacturing, Commercial Trucks, Isuzu 
When the fruity people at Del Monte closed their Pinson Valley distribution center in Alabama, they were left with 300k square-feet worth of warehouse space and a lot of unsold canned pears. Being in the market for a manufacturing center, Isuzu decided to pick up the facility with the intention of investing several million bucks to turn the warehouse into their newest North American commercial truck plant.
Over the next few years, 1,000 workers will be putting together medium- and full-size trucks using parts from outside sources. Isuzu hasn't set a date for the retrofitting or production to begin.
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Toyota to sell diesel hybrid by 2010 thanks to Isuzu
Filed under: Economy, Green, Tech, Isuzu, Toyota 
AutoblogGreen has reason to be happy, having found evidence that Toyota's recent purchase of a 5.9% stake in Isuzu will bear fruit in 2010 when the Japanese juggernaut marries its Synergy hybrid drive system with a diesel engine. Presumably such a hook up was made possible, or at least hastened, by the expertise in diesels that Isuzu brings to the table. Toyota knows its way around an oil burner too, but its Hino commercial truck division usually deals with diesels meant for trucks and buses.
Heck, even we have to admit that we're excited for such...
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Video: Automobile Mag (mercifully) shreds an Isuzu Trooper
Filed under: Etc., Videos, Isuzu  Automobile Magazine took a previously loved Isuzu Trooper to a car shredder and, just for us machine freaks, shot video of its aged, slab-sided body disappearing forever into the 6,000 horsepower jaws of automotive death. It's amazing how quickly the device of destruction chews from the Trooper's smashed-in front bumper to its rear-view-impinging spare tire.
Clyde Phillips, manager of the junking facility, says on the video that they run more than 1,000 cars a day through monster machine, sending the finely shredded steel to recyclers to become newer, hopefully better, cars and trucks.
Now that this video is out,...
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Toyota buys 5.9% of Isuzu
Filed under: Isuzu, Toyota, Earnings/Financials  Toyota announced today that it will spend $373 million on a deal with Isuzu that will transfer 5.9% of the truck- and diesel-maker to the giant Japanese automaker. Toyota's goal in purchasing a stake in Isuzu is to bolster its diesel portfolio, which apparently lags behind other major automakers like cross-town rival Honda who announced in September it would have diesel-powered passenger cars for sale in the U.S. within three years.
We always expected that Toyota would rely on its own Hino Motors commercial truck subsidiary for a diesel engine to power a heavy-duty version of its new Tundra pickup, but Hino...
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Mitsubish becomes top shareholder of Isuzu
Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Isuzu, Mitsubishi 
Isuzu Motors announced today that Mitsubishi Corp. has become its top shareholder after increasing its share of the automaker from 3.5 percent to 15.65 percent. Mitsubishi Corp, the huge conglomerate that also owns 13 percent of Mitsubishi Motors Corp, first scooped up a share in Isuzu when General Motors dropped back its stake in the company back in April, and this news came about after Mitsubishi decided to convert all the preferred share that it purchased back in 2005 into common stock. Mitsubishi is clearly looking to strengthen its ties with Isuzu and benefit from the automaker's truck business.
Mitsubishi is a huge...
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Isuzu VehiCOPS!
Filed under: SUVs, Etc., Isuzu 
Photo: Chris Belanger
We love seeing interesting police cars, and by "interesting," we mean a car that does not have an available factory police package. With that in mind, you can imagine the smile that crossed our faces when we opened an email from reader/tipster Chris Belanger. Chris saw something parked in Montecito, CA that definitely qualifies as interesting as far as we're concerned.
It would appear that the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's motor pool includes a genuine oddity among the usual fleetmobiles: a full-dress Isuzu VehiCROSS police car.
Powered by a 3.5-liter 215-horsepower, the quirky-cool 2-door...
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Isuzu rolls out new D-Max pickup
Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Isuzu 
Isuzu hardly has a leg left to stand on in North America, but elsewhere in the world its trucks are being bought by the hundreds of thousands. The D-Max shares its underpinnings and much of its sheetmetal with the brand's i-280 and i-350 pickups, as well as our own Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon. The new model gets a refreshed front end and new 3.0-liter CRD turbo-diesel. Inside Line reports that Isuzu is gearing up to build 350,000 units at its plants in Thailand where the the brand has ruled the commercial vehicle market for 23 years and the pickup segment for 10 years.
The...
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General Motors and Isuzu to build pickups together
Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Japan, GM, Isuzu  General Motors and Isuzu Motors Ltd. will get together for another joint venture to start developing new pickups together for emerging markets. The JV, called LCV Platform Engineering Corp., has worked together successfully before on pickup development and production, and despite GM having sold off much of its Japanese investments (Isuzu, Suzuki, Subaru, etc.), the company says the work it has done with Isuzu to develop and produce pickups should continue due to its success in the past.
LCV Platform Engineering Corp. is a 50-50 joint venture between General Motors and Isuzu based in Fujisawa, Japan. The arrangement and accompanying...
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