Sorry, everyone, on the delays on some of the news. I was trying to get (c) permission to rerint on some parts, but finally it was easier (and cheaper) to retype. In addition, commications from my planted spies have had a harder time getting thru, and the investigation into the possible triple-agent (my double agent turned against me) continue to cloud the issue.
Note: Isuzu still is sold in Canda, despite reports to the contrary. See (way) below.
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2003 Summary: Isuzu sales were down 42.8 percent, its fourth consecutive decline. In those four years, Isuzu sales have dropped 70.8 percent.
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Announced at the NADA MAKE Meetings, Feb 9, 2004Companies focus: Be a value brand. Options choices will decrease and more items will be standard to bring prices down.
Isuzu will halt production of the Axiom and Rodeo in July 2004, leaving only the the GM-rebadged Ascender in five- and seven-seat options.
Re-introduce brands starting 2007. First model will be 7-seat SUV positioned between the two Ascender models, currently called "Model 190." It will be built off the company's Thai-market pickup. The seven-passenger SUV will be larger than the Rodeo and the old Trooper but shorter and narrower than the Ascender.
"We know that 2005 and 2006 will be challenging," Maloney said in an interview after the make meeting.
Isuzu has said they expect to sell 29,000 vehicles this year, down from 30,328 in 2003. This is not in line with their 40% drop per year, for the last two years. Maloney is confident Isuzu can survive in the U.S. market. "I know we can be profitable selling under 40,000 units," he said. "Our breakeven point is not that high."
More bad news. The company says:
ò No other vehicles except for the 2007 SUV. (Not forever, but there are no other vehicles planned at this time).
ò No word on the re-introducing their best seller, the Rodeo, in either the current or the previously stopped redesigned version. (Wayne's personal commentary/joke: Apparently it sold too many vehicles <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> )
ò Will not introduce any vehicles larger than the seven-seat Ascender
ò No plans for a pickup, sport wagon or additional common platforms with General Motors (good for common spare parts). Pickup import was scrubbed as all vehicles have to be configured to get around the Chicken Tax.
ò Will reduce its dealer count to 250 stores, down from 400. Approximately 80 percent of Isuzu's U.S. sales are generated by 250 dealers.
ò Has eliminated 50 percent of its U.S. staff.
ò Dumped its captive finance company and reduced fleet sales to 5 percent of total sales, down from 30 percent.
Good news
(this section intentionally left blank.)
(just kidding)
ò Isuzu will increase its advertising budget by 33 percent this year. Most of the money will go to regional dealer ad groups. The company also will spend more money on Web site ads to generate more sales leads for dealers.
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Duke Hale, former COO of American Isuzu Motors and a veteran of Mazda North American Operations, has been named CEO of Lotus Holdings Inc. He will oversee Lotus' operations in the U.S. market.
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Opel left the SUV segment when it stopped building the Frontera (Rodeo/Amigo) in July 2003. It also stopped building the full-sized Isuzu-sourced Monterey (Trooper) "because those models were not profitable," GM Europe Mike Burns said. They plan to introduce a new body-on-frame SUV and not a unibody vehicle. Burns didn't discuss the size of Opel's SUV, but GM sources said that it is based on the Theta architecture, which is used for the Saturn Vue and the Chevrolet Equinox compact SUVs. The platform will also be used for a Daewoo SUV that is expected in 2005 or 2006.
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(Reuters) General Motors says it will buy the remaining 51 percent of Delta Motor Corp. of South Africa, reported. GM has a 49 percent stake in the automotive manufacturer, acquired in 1997 when it returned to South Africa after 11 years. Delta employs more than 4,000 people and assembles GM's Opel brand Corsa and Astra cars and
Isuzu light trucks. The government must approve the deal. Delta was formed in 1986 through a management buyout when GM left South Africa as a response to protest against the apartheid regime of that time.
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Isuzu has expensive hybrid truck ready for market (Jan 04) Isuzu Motors Ltd. has developed a hybrid medium-duty truck with technical support from General Motors. It's ready to go any time, but Isuzu is waiting for a market to develop for it. The diesel-electric truck has a loading capacity of 2 to 3 tons with a fuel economy of roughly 23 to 25 mpg. This is a 20-30% improvement over similar sized diesel truck. It uses the electric motor for initial acceleration. The diesel engine kicks in at higher speeds. Isuzu has no plan to market the truck due to cost. It would cost about $9,000 more than the current $27-36,000 for a conventional diesel truck.
The Japanese government, however, introduced new emissions regulations for trucks in October and plans to set stricter ones in 2005. The USA will have new standards in 2005 that is similar to Japan's October 2003 regs. That could force corporate buyers to consider expensive but clean hybrid trucks.
In November, Hino Motors Ltd. introduced a hybrid truck the same size as Isuzu's in Japan. The Dutro truck uses a hybrid system that Hino developed jointly with its parent, Toyota Motor Corp. Unlike Toyota's Prius hybrid car, the Dutro has not drawn any orders. It is priced about $9,000 above comparable standard diesel trucks from Hino.
Nissan Diesel Motor Co. has sold only two of its hybrid trucks, with a loading capacity of 4 to 6 tons, since its introduction in June 2002. That's also because of a steep price: $8,200 higher than the standard diesel-powered truck.
GM, which owns a 12.2 percent stake in Isuzu, has started building a gasoline-electric version of the Chevrolet Silverado pickup and plans to sell 500 by early summer to U.S. fleet operators, power companies and government agencies. Isuzu won't say whether the technology in its prototype is the same as what GM is using in the Silverado.
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Dealer wish lists. Isuzu highlighted.
- Chevrolet dealers want to be No. 1 in sales again, a position they haven't enjoyed since 1986.
- Elsewhere at General Motors, Buick and Saturn want more product, and Pontiac and Cadillac want successful product launches.
- Ford dealers ask that the factory develop an acceptable replacement for the unpopular Blue Oval program, and Lincoln dealers sum up their wants very simply: New products.
- Chrysler dealers also wish for more new products, and Dodge dealers desire that their new vehicles will be launched efficiently.
- Toyota dealers are pretty content, though they would like more Prius models.
- Honda dealers would appreciate better quality, and Nissan retailers would be pleased to have more marketing and advertising support for the Titan pickup and other vehicles.
- Mazda - more high-volume products
- Infiniti - a certified used-vehicle program
- Lexus - bigger mattresses to stuff their money. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> They are booming in new/recertified sales with #1 in quality and a good set of price-points and all successful new vehicle launches.
- Suzuki and Mitsubishi - more brand awareness
- Isuzu - new products and programs to boost dealer morale
- Subaru - a shorter product cycle.
- Saab pleads "don't strip our cars"
- Volvo hopes for more consistency in factory management.
- BMW and Mercedes-Benz dealers want the factory to preserve dealer profitability
- Mercedes folks add a plea for better quality which has slipped drasticly in recent years.
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Canada's 60 Saturn-Saab-Isuzu dealers are bracing for the loss of the increasingly weak Isuzu leg of their multi-brand franchises. General Motors of Canada Ltd. says it is reviewing the prospects of the brand it introduced to Canada in 1986. There is no deadline on the final decision yet.
Any decision that GM makes in Canada would have no bearing on Isuzu's U.S. dealers because Isuzu is the franchiser in the U.S. market, not GM.
Isuzu's restructuring efforts in recent years as well as its shift in focus from a full-line product mix to pickups and SUVs are factors behind the reappraisal of the brand. Dealers say the shutdown of their Isuzu business has been expected.
"My lot has been empty for 18 months, and I'm just waiting for GM to tell me when to take my signs down," says a dealer in Mississauga, Ontario, who declined to be identified. "It's safe to say we're not going to sell Isuzu here again."
GM began marketing Isuzu products through a single truck center in Toronto. It included the brand in its Passport franchise in 1988. When Passport was dismantled, Isuzu became part of the Saturn-Saab-Isuzu franchise launched in 1991.
Isuzu Canadian Sales (by year)
1990 4,270
1991 4,136
1992 3,713
1993 2,604
1994 966
1995 836
1996 646
1997 796
1998 1,773
1999 1,245
2000 1,253
2001 1,480
2002 732
2003 (through August) 17
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Wonder where those beautiful Nissan designs come from? Isuzu.The Nissan 350Z sports car, Nissan Quest minivan, Infiniti FX45 sport wagon - line by line, product by product, Nissan design chief Shiro Nakamura is shaking up the world of automotive styling with these and other vehicles. Nakamura joined Nissan from
Isuzu Motors Inc. on Oct. 18, 1999 - the same day Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn announced his Nissan Revival Plan.
"Nakamura has brought us in to a tight focus with everything we do," says Alfonso Albaisa, the interim design director for Nissan Design America in San Diego. "He's made the process more intellectual. Basically, he cemented the strategy between (Nissan and Infiniti). Nissan bodies feel light and agile. The G35 and FX45 typify where Infiniti is going. They have a solidity; they are nuanced."
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Competitor news: Land Rover (See Defender)
Freelander: The first car-based Land Rover comes in spring 2006 and shares Ford Motor Co.'s new global Ford C1 platform with Mazda and Volvo. The U.S. market may get both an inline-five borrowed from Volvo and a four-cylinder engine.
Defender: The redesign will come in 2006 and retain the rugged off-road vehicle characteristics favored by military purchasing departments. While the current model does not meet U.S. emissions requirements, the new one will.
Discovery: Purists, have no fear: The Discovery stays on a Land Rover platform and does not migrate to the Ford Explorer as some had theorized. The redesign comes in fall 2004. The redesigned Discovery will have a longer wheelbase and overall length, but it will be narrower and lower in height. While the width will address the narrow streets and parking spaces in Europe and Japan, the added length accommodates a third row of seats. The redesigned Discovery will be powered by a version of Jaguar's 4.2-liter V-8. Although the vehicle's structure will be mounted on a ladder frame, its ride gets mellowed with independent front and rear suspension.
Range Rover Sport: While borrowing from the flagship's name, and borrowing many of the styling cues, this vehicle will come from the Discovery platform when it arrives in spring 2005. This model will fit in the $45,000 to $60,000 range between Discovery and Range Rover. The Sport also will share a version of Jaguar's 4.2-liter V-8. While the B-pillar forward will look like a Range Rover, early spy art shows a rear half that has more in common with a Lexus RX 330, given its steeply sloping rear hatch.
Range Rover: It was redesigned for 2003, and the next major change will be the replacement of the BMW V-8 for the torque-modified Jaguar 4.2-liter V-8 in 2005. Land Rover also is considering a supercharger.
