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Isuzu to leave U.S. market

01/30/2008, 4:15 PM

By Drew Johnson

Isuzu has officially announced that it will pull out of the U.S. light-vehicle market. While the company will still sell its commercial trucks in the U.S., Isuzu will no longer be selling its i-series pickup truck or Ascender SUV as of January 1, 2009. Isuzu will continue to offer parts and service in the U.S. for its vehicles.

Isuzu says the decision to leave the U.S. market was made because of a lack of future products. Both of Isuzu’s models are based on General Motors vehicles — the i-series pickup on the Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon and the Ascender SUV on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer — and GM has no plans to update either platform in the near future. Isuzu deemed developing a vehicle on its own specifically for the U.S. market too costly.

Rumors that Isuzu would leave the U.S. market have been circling for years, due to the Japanese automaker’s lackluster sales. In 2006, Isuzu managed to sell just 15,751 vehicles and only moved 7,906 units in 2007.

The exit from the U.S. market will reportedly cost Isuzu $37 million in dealer buyouts and other move related expenses.

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01/30, 4:25 PM

posted by:

golf4me

Ouch, too bad they decided not to sell a true small truck with a diesel engine (of which they have several good ones) in the US. Could have really helped them, AND the could have sold it to GM to replace the crappy Colorado platform.

01/30, 4:29 PM

posted by:

SS4LIFE

Good Idea golf4me, unfortunately ISUZU probably wasn’t making a huge profit after just selling a re-badged Envoy and a Colorado/Canyon. While I do see a large amount of their medium duty commercial trucks, that are also GMC’s there really isn’t anything that they produce for any other use. Which is a shame because I kinda liked that one SUV they had a few years back, the design was really cool.

01/30, 4:41 PM

posted by:

HoosierHero

Thank God. Who the hell owns an Isuzu?!?! They were GM clones, and poor ones at that. About 10 years overdue IMO. Though the Vehicross was kinda interesting…

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z503/Isuzu_Vehicross/default.aspx

01/30, 4:46 PM

posted by:

stick2clutch

good!

01/30, 5:14 PM

posted by:

inline6

Suzuki is continue to post record year over year sales. I don’t think they’re going anywhere.

01/30, 6:18 PM

posted by:

SwerveEarly

Its a wonder they lasted this long in the US market. They had a few decent models like impulse (w/handling by Lotus) and Vehicross which was way ahead of its time and is amazing on a dirt road. Also they were way early on the SUV trend.

01/30, 6:20 PM

posted by:

gbb

Dont let the door hit you in the a$$ when you leave…….oh and one more thing, take Kia/Hundai with you.

01/30, 6:27 PM

posted by:

global_lightning

I could never get over the Ass-Ender name.
Mistsu and Nissan aren’t going anywhere; of the Japanese they build the most exciting cars. Suzuki may leave next since their cars are POS and strictly compete on price; they undercut the Domestics and still don’t sell. Too bad because their motorcycles kick ass.

01/30, 7:16 PM

posted by:

jayjc08

Global Lightning- Suzuki sales are on the rise.

01/30, 8:14 PM

posted by:

TOZO

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! You suck! You suck! Get the hell out of the US, you crummy-ass Japanese-GM mix-up into crap excuse for an SUV & pickup car company! Your reight of slow-selling POS passenger vehicle sales are over!

01/30, 9:22 PM

posted by:

RicardoHead

The Axiom looked good. Maybe some dealers have some new 2004 models still on the lot I can pick up for $7 at a deathbed sale.

01/30, 9:53 PM

posted by:

meekin111

They are big in all of asia and the pacific.

01/30, 10:06 PM

posted by:

Veda

Isuzu has been special to me simply because I used one of their diesel minivans to tow a Civic at 1AM during a major flood about 2 years ago. The water was already above the headlights so it was dark as hell but the damn thing just kept going even if the dashboard was going on and off. The other cars behind me didn’t dare to cross the water. Isuzus are strictly designed for field operation and other tough usage. They don’t have a place in a nice comfy place like US.

01/30, 10:28 PM

posted by:

hateful83

They especially don’t have a place when all they’re selling (to the general public) is rebadged GM’s. As far as their commerical vehicles, I don’t know. You sure see alot of them on the roads. They also were largely the developers of the GM Duramax diesel, which is said to be quite good. What the hell happened to the Rodeos and Axioms of the world. And of course the Vehicross, that was a crazy ass suv.

01/30, 10:31 PM

posted by:

sharpie

global_lightning, wait till the return of the Suzuki Swift. It is ranked very high in other parts of the world such as Australia. Also, I test drove the SX4 a couple months ago. Besides being too underpower to have AWD, the build quality and design is ahead of the domestic offerings.

01/30, 10:33 PM

posted by:

sharpie

And to Isuzu, rebadge=death, especially when you HAD a line up before. That is simply unacceptable. So naturally, you go the way of Oldsmobile and Plymouth. Next brand being killed is Mercury.

01/30, 11:42 PM

posted by:

LJ

In August of 1987, we needed a vehicle ASAP. We ended up with a “Chevy”(rebadged Isuzu I-Mark) Spectrum.
It was ok for 14 months/14,000 miles… then we had issues such as needing a new Master Cylinder(in 21 years of new car buying, this was the only model of car where a master cylinder blew out).
Brake pads? 70% Hwy driving, and needed pads at 17,000 miles(again, never happened with any other car we had) ..just a big pain.
30-31MPG with automatic.
We dumped it(due to issues) in June of 90 for a Sentra xe.
Took a big hit on trade-in(loss).

We did look @ the Storm. For the time, it was fast and fun… 120HP( a lot for 1990)…hatchback, no less, cheap, but Chevy dealership usually jerked us around with the Spectrum on repairs(went back 2-3 times to get things done 1/2 way right)…so we went to Nissan.

They quit making cars, iirc, 1993( reason why Chevy quit selling Storm’s..they had no more to sell…which, I heard, did quite well,at one time, selling nearly as well as the Cavalier?).

I did see that weird VehiCross..someone bought one…some lady had it in town about 2-3 years(about 05 was last time I saw it on the road).

01/30, 11:46 PM

posted by:

LJ

I had heard they were going to try to build new, better cars, and start selling cars again, but that was 7-8 years ago?
Well, Diahatsu was here for what, 3-5 years? Their cars were better.

01/31, 12:47 AM

posted by:

Jazz

First I’ve ever heard of a domestic auto co raping the profits a foreign one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isuzu

01/31, 10:51 AM

posted by:

MY Si

aw im gonna miss Isuzu. i loved the VehiCROSS

01/31, 3:59 PM

posted by:

Get Real

Joe Isuzu is finally and permanently……unemployed.

01/31, 4:09 PM

posted by:

corvette

well sucks for them but you do what you got to do.

02/01, 12:03 AM

posted by:

lucklaster

hey ezoozoo – don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

02/01, 5:16 AM

posted by:

1c3d0g

This is no big deal. Since Isuzu is cozy with Toy Ota now they might as well pull out of the North American market entirely, as the only way they’re going is down. Swapping GM for Toy Ota will be their biggest mistake ever.

02/01, 9:29 AM

posted by:

injunraiv

Wierd, there was just an article in Automotive news outlining their plans to expand their dealerships in certain markets. They were selling cheap. I took this to mean there was something on the horizon and had it on my agenda to look into acquiring a franchise.

Then we get this story… Sheesh!

02/01, 3:43 PM

posted by:

jackjimturkey

I don’t like it.

 
 
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