GM pulls the plug on Isuzu model
Line keeps shrinking; just 3 models are left

Automotive News / December 19, 2005

The Ascender accounts for nearly one-quarter of Isuzu sales in the U.S.
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LOS ANGELES -- General Motors has put a lump of coal in Isuzu's Christmas stocking.

GM will end production of the seven-seat Isuzu Ascender in February when it closes its assembly plant in Oklahoma City. The model accounted for 22.5 percent of Isuzu's U.S. sales of 11,388 this year through November.

The loss is more dreary news for dealers, who will limp along with only three poor-selling vehicles: the five-seat Ascender and the i280 and i350 pickups. The pickups are based on the GMC Canyon.

"It's unfortunate from our standpoint, because the Ascender seven-passenger has been a successful and profitable part of our lineup since its introduction in 2003," Terry Maloney, president of Isuzu Motors America, said in a letter to dealers.

He added, though, that Isuzu's U.S. unit will post a profit for fiscal 2005 for the first time since 2000. The U.S. unit has cut costs drastically.

"Be assured that I am confident about our future, and I strongly encourage you to share that confidence," Maloney said.

Scott Lasher, owner of Lasher Isuzu in Sacramento, Calif., and chairman of the Isuzu dealer council, said the big Ascender represented only about 10 percent of his sales.

"Still, it's hard to lose product when you have a narrow product offering in the first place," he says. But, he adds, "The pickups are starting to catch on."

Earlier this year Isuzu Motors Ltd. projected it would generate $46.6 million in North American operating profits this year, compared with a $3.7 million loss last year. But it expected commercial trucks, not light vehicles, to account for most of the turnaround.

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Some numbing numbers tell Isuzu's sorry story

Life for Isuzu dealers is bleak. A few statistics tell the story:

# Vehicles no longer in production, such as the Rodeo and Axiom SUVs, accounted for 32 percent of Isuzu sales this year through November. Isuzu sales are off 55.6 percent this year.

# The seven-seat Ascender, which will be dropped in February, accounted for 36 percent of total Ascender sales of 7,082 through November, Isuzu spokesman Chip Letzgus said.

# Dealers have sold only 604 i-280 and i-350 pickups since they went on sale in July, far below the projected 2,500 sales for this year. The company hopes to sell at least 5,000 of the pickups for a full calendar year.

# Isuzu's U.S. sales were 27,188 in 2004, down 10.4 percent from 2003. As recently as 1999, Isuzu was selling more than 100,000 vehicles in this country.

The whole Isuzu America venture is a freaking joke: how come you can have a company which does not produce any own vehicle, just re-brands some others vehicles ?

They are loosing the brand. Well, they have lost it already. Without the brand, there is no hope. No brand, no sales - this is how it works in the modern auto industry.

They have fantastic brand OUTSIDE of the US in places where people still buy body-on-frame SUVs and pickups, and where diesel engines reign supreme.

When it comes to new SUV models, the US market is for soccer moms in Expeditions and rapping posers in Hummers.

Isuzu is pretty much dominating in those markets it chooses to, and that should tell you something: Isuzu has no interest in the US passenger vehicle market and will probably be out by 2008 UNLESS they can start importing diesel MU-7s and DMax's.

BH

well, I believe that those vehicles would be accepted very warmly on the USA market. Even soccer moms and poser dudes want good engines and reliable convenient vehicles.

I personally like I-350 and I'd buy one (in the off-road edition) if something would happen to my Rodeo. If it would have a diesel, it would be a total hit.

In most spots now, diesel costs more per gallon than gas. Yes, I know, better mileage. But combine the average consumer, and they see higher prices and less stations carrying it, and they avoid it. I know the plusses--but the average consumer doesn't.

Wayne, the reality is that the diesel engines are considered so cool that the sellers charge thousands $$$ premiums for the diesel cars and trucks.

The extreme demand on the diesel cars makes them almost unaffordable. Here in the SF Bay Area, for example, VW diesel cars of the latest years are of so high demand that there is almost no depreciation on these cars. A diesel VW of, say, 2002 year cost almost twice as much as a gasoline version of the same car in the same condition.

When I was searching for a commute car, I considered a diesel VW, but I found that people appreciate them beyond any reality. Just becouse everybody wants to have a diesel VW for commute.
Lucky ones do not want to sell them, normally.

Used diesel trucks are also much more desirable than the gasoline versions. The depreciation curve is much flatter for diesel trucks. And you cannot expect to buy a good domestic diesel truck much below MSRP, like a gasoline truck. Usually, dealerships want even more than MSRP for the diesel trucks.

Considering this huge unsatisfied demand, I do not understand why market ecomony does not work and why this demand does not bring more diesel vehicles here.

[/quote]Well, seeing as California (and several other states) doesn't allow the sale of new diesel passenger vehicles there really isn't anything the manufacturers can do. This new vehicle ban is what has caused the problems you have encountered.

Although IÆm not exactly holding my breath - the Litmus Test for the market segment is already taking place.

If Daimler-Chrysler can overcome the perceptions and difficulties that Wayne just mentioned with their diesel Jeep Liberty, then there might still be a chance that a Unicorn will emerge from IsuzuÆs bag of tricks yet. --- If notà [insert æTapsÆ] <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />


<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />
<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I would argue that if there was a huge demand for many years, then more companies would be selling them. I can't believe all the car companies are working togheter in a diesel conspiracy to keep them away from us.

Look how fast they started cranking out hybrids when Toyota made everyone realize they were popular.

There is a premium to them, but everything I've read says it costs about $1000 more to make them due to higher internal stresses, and of course you lose out a little due to manufacturing in lower quantities.

The real reasons for so few diesels in the US are twofold: 1) no US manufacturer has been able to build a reliable, efficient, quiet, and small displacement diesel engine, and 2) US oil companies have dragged their feet in bringing ultra-low sulfur diesel to a pump near you.

By 2012, about half of all SUVs sold in the US will be diesel powered, according to a recent study, so there is hope. Clean diesel is coming to the US, and Isuzu is a world leader in clean diesel.

BH