Any chance of Isuzu returning to market

[H3_VX]

Does anybody believe Isuzu could make a comeback to the US market again? Maybe when the economy gets better and car sales improve? Wouldn't it be great to get some new VX's, Rodeo's, Trooper's, Amigo's, etc.? :yeso:

[Gussie2000]

Into the US market......almost impossible.

In order for isuzu to gain market again must do what they never did while they were here..

1st An whole line up of new vehicules with lots of improvement and techology along with.

Better engines.More into the high performance side,
Vehicules with radical and atractive designs,more and better engeneering,no engine blowing up or oil compsumtion,no water pool under floor carpet could be a good start.

[Grif]

Not to mention the prototype ceramic molds they used to stamp out the VX body are now broken. They manufactured the VX as long as the molds would last then discontinued production. Keep in mind the VX was a concept car that used that new ceramic mold process, it was a just a beta-test to them.

[WormGod]

They probably could considering their commercial delivery market, but it's really a question of, would it be worth it. Definitely not worth the gamble with this economy, so, maybe in 30 years, heh.

They had some solid models and were generally basic in tech, design, and functionality, which isn't a bad thing for price, value, and maintenance. Reliability was average, as we all know, heh. So when ya think about it, they fit the bill of other like-minded small/medium manufacturers like Hyundai, KIA, and Subaru. The problem would be, apparently SUV sales have been slowly dropping in the past years so they would have to re-think their lineup since, IMHO, they led the SUV market (biased.... I had 4 ISUZU SUVs ;) ).

[circmand]

Into the US market......almost impossible.

In order for isuzu to gain market again must do what they never did while they were here..

1st An whole line up of new vehicules with lots of improvement and techology along with.

Better engines.More into the high performance side,
Vehicules with radical and atractive designs,more and better engeneering,no engine blowing up or oil compsumtion,no water pool under floor carpet could be a good start.

was kick GM to the curb which they finally did. Gm instead of helping Isuzu with their distribution they actively stomped on Isuzus credibility and strengths.

[RickOKC]

Anything is possible. I would never have expected that Fiat or Alpha Romeo would return.

Article on Fortune mag (http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/10/autos/Fiat-500_Chrysler_South-America.fortune/index.htm)

[vt_maverick]

Personally I can't see it. The amount of investment capital that would be required for showrooms, manufacturing facilities, ad campaigns, etc. would be daunting to say the least. Plus as Gussie and WG have pointed out, they would need to engineer an entirely new lineup of vehicles that would be successful in the current North American marketplace. 20 years ago Isuzu had a solid niche in the then-small SUV market segment, but today they'd be re-entering a marketplace fraught with SUVs from nearly every manufacturer. Successfully penetrating a now crowded market segment would require significant innovation - basically an entire line-up of vehicles each as cutting edge as the VX, but with styling cues more suited for mass consumption. Hard to believe Isuzu (or any manufacturer) could/would raise the funds required for such a high-risk venture.

Let's just hope their medium/heavy-duty truck sales keep them afloat so the OEM parts keep flowing.

[H3_VX]

Maybe if a few more brands close their doors.

Already in the past year its been Pontiac, Saturn, Hummer, Mercury. Saab being up for sale and finally sold. The thing I don't understand is why car companies are raising prices even though they are already not selling cars.

Anyway, its just wishful thinking I guess that I could have more of a selection of VehiCROSSes.

[blacksambo]

The Boston Globe article from recent past ( mentioned on this site) pretty much identified why they could not succeed in the USA, and forced them to bow out. ( The old 1996 Trooper roll over story, that nobody could forget on the cover of Consumer Reports.)That said, perhaps with a cooling off period they might just put their big toe in again. After all, the USA is the biggest market in the world....how do you justify staying out of it????

[Ascinder]

Why would they even worry about SUVs when pint sized electric hybrids are the new coolest toys on the block. With isuzus already leading the way in truck diesel technology, they just need to attach a generator and a really good battery stack and behold a truck that now gets a bagillion(yeah I said it) miles per gallon. Same with any vehicle they decide to produce. I don't see the giant problem here. They design and produce vehicles already in many other world markets. What's to prevent them from shipping over a couple existing designs while they come up with something more specific to the US market?

[samneil2000]

The Boston Globe article from recent past ( mentioned on this site) pretty much identified why they could not succeed in the USA, and forced them to bow out. ( The old 1996 Trooper roll over story, that nobody could forget on the cover of Consumer Reports.)That said, perhaps with a cooling off period they might just put their big toe in again. After all, the USA is the biggest market in the world....how do you justify staying out of it????

China's the biggest market now...

[circmand]

China's the biggest market now...

China is the fates growing market in sales vs the prior year. The USA still has the most vehicles per person and the most vehicles on the road. However as it is a mature market in that population is stable and most buyers are replacing vehicles vs China new people who never owned a car are buying make China fastest growing. Also the Chinese are keeping most non Chinese vehicles out and selling Chinese junk which makes you wonder how much of the market is available to outside China companies and can they produce a cheap enough vehicle

[Ascinder]

All I know is that when I was over there, the only things I saw besides the Chinese cars were Japanese imports(mostly Mitsubishis) and I had been told they got raped on import fees. Also a couple Italian cars in Hong Kong.

[blacksambo]

The USA accounts for 23% of the total world consumption of goods, no other country is even close. How do you stay out that market and succeed in a global economy? Isuzu still sells us parts and will continue to do so to protect their remaining image. Other car makers like Fiat stopped selling parts to the USA and had to buy Chrysler to get an image that would fly in the USA again. Remember when FIAT stood for "Fix It Again Tony". Americans don't forget, and that's what Isuzu is afraid of confronting any too soon.

[RallyDude]

I wish Subaru would have taken over Isuzu. Subaru known for reliable AWD, but no true off-road vehicles. It seems like it would have been a good fit.

And true, sadly not in this market, nor in the fuel requirement and federal regulation. The day of the SUV is over.

[vt_maverick]

The USA accounts for 23% of the total world consumption of goods, no other country is even close. How do you stay out that market and succeed in a global economy?

Just because you're not in the largest market doesn't mean you can't be successful. You just have to look at what "successful" means to your company. Is it simply turning a profit, or is it seeing sustained revenue and profit growth over time? A stand on the side of the road that produces 50 cups of $.05 lemonade a day and sells them for $.25 a cup is successful for a 10 year-old, but obviously not for Minute Maid. It all depends on how much profit Isuzu desires to make.

Not being in the largest market in the world means that they don't have the tremendous footprint and expenses associated with doing so, namely property ownership for dealerships and plants, salary and fringe packages for employees manufacturing cars, etc. In theory that means they can sell substantially less vehicles each year and still make the same amount of profit as GM, so long as they keep their expenses lower per vehicle. Staying in its home and lower expense markets (without US labor unions and export/import duties to weigh its vehicles' price down) maintaining a much lower production cost is very attainable.


And true, sadly not in this market, nor in the fuel requirement and federal regulation. The day of the SUV is over.

I wouldn't say that. Regulation tends to drive innovation, since car manufacturers will never abandon market segments for which there is still demand. Cylinder deactivation technology, hybrid-drive systems, CVT technology, smaller displacement turbo-charged engines, variable valve technology, and direct injection are all technologies that have come about as a result of the need/desire to squeeze more HP and/or MPG out of existing engines. Nissan's new Juke is a good example of what can be achieved; it's projected to achieve 26-30 MPG in the turbo 4-cylinder / CVT model, which is nearly 7-10 MPG better than any other SUV or cross-over currently made by Nissan or Infiniti.

I suppose you could argue that increased fuel costs and emissions regulations in the 1970s lead to a generation of crappy cars (Mustang II for example), but then again they didn't have the computer technology that we have today. Given no other options, manufacturers simply downsized engine displacement, resulting in significantly less power. But I just can't see that happening again.

[WormGod]

I wish Subaru would have taken over Isuzu. Subaru known for reliable AWD, but no true off-road vehicles. It seems like it would have been a good fit.

And true, sadly not in this market, nor in the fuel requirement and federal regulation. The day of the SUV is over.

Wait, you mean the Amigo wasn't a jacked up Brat? ;)

[deermagnet]

Isuzu is still in the US market and apparently does well.
http://www.isuzucv.com (http://www.isuzucv.com/)
"America's #1 Selling Low Cab Forward Truck Every Year Since 1986"

They have a truck dealer in my own home town. I even stopped in there once to see if they could order me SUV parts, but they said no. They don't have the catalogs and software to even look up SUV parts.

Isuzu has been well known for a long time as makers of the best diesel engines in the world.

Mark

[vt_maverick]

I think we meant the US passenger vehicle market.

[deermagnet]

I wish Subaru would have taken over Isuzu. It seems like it would have been a good fit.

Well, they were closely linked at one time. In the 80's they formed Subaru-Isuzu Automotive (SIA). All those Rodeos and Passports with the rusting frames were made at the Subaru plant in Indiana. Subaru should probably accept some of the embarrassment over that issue.

Mark

[vt_maverick]

Well, they were closely linked at one time. In the 80's they formed Subaru-Isuzu Automotive (SIA). All those Rodeos and Passports with the rusting frames were made at the Subaru plant in Indiana. Subaru should probably accept some of the embarrassment over that issue.

Mark

Now that's interesting... any of our Subi-lovers out there know of any abnormal rust issues on any Subaru models?

[deermagnet]

I think we meant the US passenger vehicle market.
What does it matter if they're selling big vehicles or small ones? The point is they're in the largest market in the world and making money, so they're happy. It was said they needed to be in the US market to compete globally and they are here.

Mark

[circmand]

The USA accounts for 23% of the total world consumption of goods, no other country is even close. How do you stay out that market and succeed in a global economy? Isuzu still sells us parts and will continue to do so to protect their remaining image. Other car makers like Fiat stopped selling parts to the USA and had to buy Chrysler to get an image that would fly in the USA again. Remember when FIAT stood for "Fix It Again Tony". Americans don't forget, and that's what Isuzu is afraid of confronting any too soon.

Americans do forget along ewith Fix it again Tony we have Ford Found on road dead or fix or repair daily. Ford had the exploding Pinto, Chevy had the unreliable Vega and the hidious Aztec, Toyota just recently had the surprise 0-60 cars as well as surpise my brakes don't work cars. Yet all of these car companies continue to be in business. Granted the old dealership model of requiring purchasing a dealership and setting up an exclusive lot would hurt them but if they approached existing dealers of other cars and said order what you want and sell them with the requirement of having trained mechanics for their car and honoring warranty work I bet they could beat the number of dealerships they had under GM who basically bought controlling interest to stifle competition and were no help.

GM killed the American Isuzu market

[vt_maverick]

What does it matter if they're selling big vehicles or small ones? The point is they're in the largest market in the world and making money, so they're happy. It was said they needed to be in the US market to compete globally and they are here.

Mark

I thought we were only talking about the passenger market, which translates your last sentence to this: "It was said they needed to be in the US [passenger] market to compete [in the passenger car market] globally."

I don't think anyone would argue that they are successful in the medium to heavy duty truck market. I see them freakin' everywhere.

[vt_maverick]

if they approached existing dealers of other cars and said order what you want and sell them with the requirement of having trained mechanics for their car and honoring warranty work I bet they could beat the number of dealerships they had under GM

That's an interesting idea, getting away from dedicated dealerships with lots of stock sitting on the lot and going towards having a representative number of vehicles on the lot and letting dealerships order them "on-demand" when customers want to buy them. Only problems I could see are that existing dealerships would have to have space on their lots and it would be difficult for Isuzu to determine how many cars to manufacture each month. As I understand it GM and other manufacturers set a factory production target and "push" those vehicles onto dealer lots for them to sell. That way they don't have to produce more vehicles in the summer than in the winter, which allows them to keep a stable workforce throughout the year. Predicting demand is always the major obstacle in "just-in-time" distribution models.

Agreed that it could be a good way to get back in the market for a reasonable cost though. I'm pretty sure that's how exotic car manufacturers work...

[H3_VX]

Into the US market......almost impossible.

In order for isuzu to gain market again must do what they never did while they were here..

1st An whole line up of new vehicules with lots of improvement and techology along with.

Better engines.More into the high performance side,
Vehicules with radical and atractive designs,more and better engeneering,no engine blowing up or oil compsumtion,no water pool under floor carpet could be a good start.

Of couse when I posted this thread I knew they would have to update certain things or models of previous vehicles, but there are tons of vehicles out there that look many times better than the originals did. I wonder if Isuzu could get together with a company like Mahindra when they hit the market later this year (if they in fact do). Mahindra's trucks are terribly ugly, but I've read that they have some awesome engines and technology. Don't know if its true though.

[Ascinder]

I'm digging the bodywork this Indian guy did to his Mahindra. They need to hire this guy for their body dept.

http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/01/mahindra-scorpio-s14.jpg

[Gussie2000]

I think hyundai is the better example of what isuzu shall have done while they were here.

When i 1rst saw hyundai vehicules i couldn't believe that a car manufacturer could have the guts to sell in the US what were the most junkies car ever sold here.

Hyundai knew that they must improve they line up of vehicules and fast,so year after year i could see that improvement.

Now hyundai is selling mad bunch of cars and SUV's at a reasonable price with great fuel economy and improving their reliabily which is paying of so far.

[WormGod]

Now that's interesting... any of our Subi-lovers out there know of any abnormal rust issues on any Subaru models?

Yes. Older Impreza RS and Forester models suffer from undercarriage rust.