Isuzu at Chicago Auto Show

[yal^]

Just to let you know, I went to the Auto Show yesterday. It was nice, not too crowded yet. I talked to guys from Isuzu. I do not remember if we came to the agreement about the future of Isuzu cars in U.S.

Anyway, this really nice gentleman told me they are only retiring Rodeo and Anxiom. Isuzu stays, going strong and getting ready for changes.

And here is the surprise they have for the next two years; they going to bring back redesigned Trooper. I asked if there is a pic of it somewhere, but he said they still keeping it in darkness to release it for - I think - 2005.

They also are getting ready with a pick up truck.

I thought you might want to know.

BTW, I am in love with VW concept car. Toyota pick up is absolutely perfect! Oh, and I was very surprised with Jeep Rescue. Looks good, but the suspension seems to be hanging very low.

yal

[Dallas4u]

I would guess... the new Trooper would probably be a rebadged, minutely redesigned GM... just a guess.

[nocturnalVX]

Isuzu ditching GM for good. Lets hope it goes well & they treat us with some cool new rides!
http://www.4x4wire.com/forums/showfl...5&o=93&fpart=1

[Heraclid]

Alright! Glad to see that!

[Dallas4u]

[Spike]

A friend of mine has a contact within the ranks of Isuzu.
While I was in Los Angeles last week, I made a quick phone call to my friend (back here in PA) , and he set up a brief and casual meeting for me.
I met with this friendly gentleman, and got to see the ill fated VX-2 (not the roadster) up close and in person.

We spoke a little about Isuzu's future. I mentioned our board, and expressed the concern of the many dissappearing dealerships.

I also mentioned the shrinking size of what Isuzu is offering in their line up. I told him that some of us were questioning about Isuzu's consumer vehicle future in the US.

He said that, as far as he knows, there is no intention at all to pull out of the US market. And in fact have some new offerings coming down the road (pun intended)

He then told me about the next new SUV on the books and that it just recently got the green light. But the only solid details that he had on it were that it was based off of the successful '190' platform in Asia. And that initially it was initially scheduled for a fall 2005 release, but now it was pushed back to Jan, 2006 due to some additional engine options that are being tested and investigated (possibly both a V6 and V8 - and mentioned DuraMax diesel)

He isn't a PR guy, he deals with the reality of 'parts and service training'. And therefore is kept in the loop of what is on the horizon when it finally gets the green light, since he ultimately will have to support it.


Now onto a less knowledgeable Isuzu person that I recently ran into:

I had an interesting run-in at the Philadelphia auto show this past Wednesday. (a whole 2 days after my other meeting)

And the guy I spoke to there, was trying to tell me that the 4153 VX's (a number I gave him) 'that were to be' manufactured for the US market, only amounted to about half of that.
Gee... isn't our color chart (broken down by model year) directly from the ranks over in Japan ? (Right Anita?)

He also tried to tell me that there were only 2 model years starting with 1997.

Lets see.. what do all of our 1999/2000/2001 owners have to say about that?

Now.. if he had explained that in 1997 there was one run for the European market, and in 1999 there was the run for North America... I might have put mor faith into what he was telling me.
-- Irony? He is from the offices in LA and travels the auto show circuit preeching his knowledge.

[Heraclid]

Just goes to show that it's usually the know-it-all types that don't know jack. I guess on the plus side, he's running around telling folks our rides are even more rare than they really are, and I can live with that. :-)

[WyrreJ]

I think it is mandatory that PR people be ignorant of the facts. It helps them to lie better.

[Heraclid]

The color chart indicates that in '99, 2,005 were imported to the US. I believe the chart is correct, and here is why...

For example, let's say that the 2,500 number in the 1999 Isuzu print ads (like the Area 51 ad) is correct rather than the 2,005 one from the chart. That would mean 1,653 (not 2,148 as the chart shows) were actually made for '00-'01 production run if 4,153 is still the correct total. If this were all true, the exterior/interior color combo numbers in the chart would have to be bogus. Yet all column totals in the chart are equal to the sum of their parts - everything cross-checks.

The same applies if 2,500 is the correct number for 1999 but the 1,653 in '00-'01 were actually supposed to be 1,635. The total numbers would be 4,135, not 4,153. See how similar the numbers are in the different scenarios? 2,005 versus 2,500... 4,153 versus 4,135... 1,653 versus 1,635...

Obviously, it would be easy for someone to have transposed the numbers in any of these three values somewhere along the line, but they all check out fine if you add across and down all the columns. This all lends credibility to the chart numbers and helps reject 2,500 and supports 2,005 as the more probable 1999 US production number.

It seems like an oversight was made in marketing, though. Saying there are only about 2,000 available for 1999 would make it sound a bit more exclusive and special than saying 2,500. So why didn't they? Perhaps 2,500 was the number of '99 models distributed worldwide and not just in the US (2,005 here, 495 abroad)? Or perhaps at the time the marketing machine was underway production was still not complete for that year and actual production fell short of projections.

What is missing from the chart that I would like to see are some numbers reflecting how many '97-'98 models were produced and how many were produced for non-US markets over the entire '97-'01 production run so we could get a fix on a total non-US consumption figure and then a combined worldwide production number for all years.

[Spike]

I personally have some faith in the chart.... Just out of sheer numbers of members that have signed up here.

I find it hard to believe that we actually have 25% of the ownership base coming through here at any given time. Especially with the number of unidentified VX sightings.

[johnnyapollo]

I seem to remember a post from the old board that stated that only about 600 were made from 97-99 for the Japanese market. I don't remember who posted, but the number had come from a Japanese rep or someone at corporate (don't think it was Anita).

-- John