Wayne, if corporations would mostly care about their profits, then we would live in a beautiful world. Unfortunately, this is an idealistic view. The money is the least of their worries, from my observations.

There is lots of things usually more important than monies for the corporations:

- "marketing stategy"
- obligations, affiliations and agreements with others companies about something
- local and global politics
- company image
- liabilities
- personal profits/benefits/interests of the top executives (very often contrary to the company interests)

Taking everything into account, we can only guess what stopped diesels on USA market.

Europians are not stupid (when it comes to the cars, at least) and they are very environment counsious. Why diesels are so popular there ?

Holger, I thought you were from Eastern Europe. Perhaps I remember wrong.
I would attribute it to (this is a layman talking, not an expert)

Fuel costs about 3-4 times our prices, so small differences magnify.

Small, fuel efficient diesel engines in small, light cars....that spew pollution at levels not allowed in the USA. (But less cars on the road and less average driving per person; they don't have the pollution problem we do. Amazingly, we're going to have much cleaner diesel than the environmentally conscious Europeans).

Diesel was cheaper than gasoline (probably because refineries were geared to produce it more than gas)

Diesel engines get better fuel efficiency. (See that part about fuel costs again)

Every gas station I ever stopped at from Britain to Northern Germany, to South of France, to the Croatia and many of the "oknias" and "stans" has diesel, so there's a continent-wide infastructure, unlike the USA. No fear of getting stuck in a small town way off the highway.

Again, just a layman. I like diesel and wish we had the option.

HUmmmmmmm...

Thing is, I have a GREAT DI engine that was produced for something like 2 years. We have 10,000 miles on the Rodeo and only have 6 months on the timer. I read stuff like this and I worry about getting parts in the future.

What a shame, really. It's a great vehicle.

US Free Trade Direct with Thailand -- Isuzu is there
aka The chicken tax is falling country by country.
Summerized from Automotive Weekly
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The American International Automobile Dealers Association represents car dealers who sell import brands in America, and they're a strong backer of the Bush administration and its free trade strategy. AIADA was invited to tag along by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, which is hammering out a free trade agreement with Thailand this month.

In the USA, the group has lobbied for decades to repeal the U.S. government's 25 percent tariff on imported pickups. (Which includes most SUV styles) The tariff is known as the Chicken Tax because 40 years ago the Johnson administration imposed it as retribution for a German tax on imported frozen poultry from U.S. producers.

Volkswagen was the major importer to the United States back then, and the Chicken Tax, which was aimed at the German automaker, was one of the main reasons VW dealers banded together and formed AIADA. Avoiding the Chicken Tax is one of the reasons that automakers based overseas produce pickups in North America.

A free trade agreement with Thailand could kill or cut the Chicken Tax on pickups built in that Asian country and possibly open a stream of low-cost pickups flowing to U.S. dealerships.

Mazda -- and Ford -- dealers could be quick beneficiaries because AutoAlliance has a factory in Rayong Province, Thailand, that already builds Mazda pickups for Asian markets. Toyota, Nissan and Isuzu also build pickups there.

Having representatives there when the deal is done would be a political coup for AIADA's leadership, which made a free trade agreement with Thailand one of its top lobbying goals last year.

TOKYO -- Isuzu will build fewer diesel engines in Europe in 2005.

Production at Isuzu's joint venture diesel engine plant with General Motors in Polska, Poland, will drop 33.9 percent to 158,000 engines from 238,717 in 2005. Isuzu President Yoshinori Ida attributes the fall to a planned model changeover.

Isuzu says its European sales will rise 10.7 percent this year to 17,100 units.

The forecast includes light and heavy commercial vehicles made by the Japanese automaker.
--------------------------------
TOKYO -- Isuzu Motors Ltd.'s North American sales will rise 15.5 percent this year to 29,000, the truckmaker predicts. Almost all of the growth will be in commercial vehicles.

Isuzu's sales of SUVs and pickups in the United States plummeted 55.2 percent last year to 12,177. But Basil Drossos, an Isuzu executive vice president, asserted that U.S. SUV and pickup sales have "kind of stabilized."

Globally, Isuzu's sales will rise 6.8 percent to 672,500, the company forecasts. It sees increased sales in all of its regional markets.

Isuzu's biggest market again will be Southeast Asia, led by sales of pickups in Thailand. Southeast Asian sales will edge up 0.2 percent to 360,000.

Japan will be Isuzu's second largest market, up 7.5 percent to 102,500.

European sales will rise 10.7 percent this year to 17,100, the company predicts. Of that, heavy-duty truck sales will double to 100 from 48 last year. The rest will be medium-duty commercial vehicles.

Production at Ispol, Isuzu's diesel-engine plant in Poland, will drop 33.9 percent to 158,000 engines from 238,717 in 2005. Isuzu President Yoshinori Ida attributes the fall to a model changeover for one of the cars that uses Ispol's engines.

Article you should be able to read for free in the next week or so. Top news in this weeks Automotive news. Sadly, the article is debating the death knell of Isuzu. Isuzu says it's here to stay, Dealers say that Isuzu is squeezing them out and dying a slow death so they don't have to pay the dealers to close.

Is Isuzu Bailing From America?

The start of the article:
==================================
Is Isuzu bailing?
Automotive News / February 13, 2006 - 6:00 am

LOS ANGELES -- As Isuzu sales plunge in the United States, many of its dealers are convinced that the company is quietly leaving the light-vehicle market.

The company is reeling from widespread problems:

ò Dealers and former field reps say they know of no new product.
ò Two former field reps say they were told to ignore some dealers.
ò The intangible value of dealerships, called blue sky, has dwindled to zero.
ò Co-op advertising dollars from Isuzu are very difficult to obtain.
ò General Motors provides all the dealers' products -- the i-series pickups and the five-seat Ascender SUV.
ò Isuzu posted only 708 U.S. sales in January.

Rest of article at link above.

I thought the above article would get *some* sort of comment.
Here's a follow-up.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Only a handful of Isuzu dealers showed up for the make meeting here, including two from South Africa. And the dealer body, which sold only 708 vehicles in January, heard nothing about new product.

"I feel frustrated about that," said Sean Tynan, owner of Tynan's Isuzu in Aurora, Colo. Tynan said he sells only two to three vehicles per month, and he said he's doubtful Isuzu can survive in this market. "They told us nothing; it was the same old thing," Tynan said.

Dealers said the company did say it would roll out a new co-op advertising program soon. They did not get specifics on the program but said company execs told them it will be easier for dealers to qualify for advertising dollars. Under the current program, dealers must sell at least 10 vehicles per month and spend $10,000 to $15,000 per month on advertising to qualify for the co-op dollars.

"They say it will be more dealer-friendly," said dealer Tad Hinder of Hinder Isuzu in Bel Air, Md. Hinder said the company shared no information about new product but told dealers it has no intentions of leaving the United States. "I believe them," Hinder said. "They're profitable now, so I think they can build from there."

The two dealers from South Africa were on a fact-finding trip to learn more about the U.S. market. Patrick Morris, of Key Isuzu in Durbin, South Africa, said dealers there sell a full-range of Isuzus from cars to light trucks to medium-duty trucks. He said his store sells 300 to 400 units annually.

"We travel to get an international perspective," Morris said. "I don't know much about the U.S. market, but the company is firmly behind us in South Africa."

I guess GM isn't concerned enough about the South African Market to push Zu's out of there.....yet.

Jay <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/mrt.gif" alt="" />

I hope Tynan doesnt stop selling zu's. Its handy having a dealer less then 3 miles away <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> They seem to do well with selling vw's so they should survive but may not be a zu dealer much longer from the sounds of it.

Followup: LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Isuzu is doing the best it can
RICHARD W. EVANS, Zone Sales Manager, Isuzu Motors America Inc., Fremont, Calif.
Automotive News / February 27, 2006 - 6:00 am

To the Editor:
In reference to your Feb. 13 article about Isuzu ("Is Isuzu bailing?"), I would like to set some of the record straight. You gave the opinions of two apparently disgruntled ex-employees -- one who was fired and the other who left because "he felt he wasn't being honest with the dealers."

I am a zone sales manager for California. I work directly for (Doug) Guerriere (head of the Western sales region). Scott Lasher, the dealer council chairman, is one of my dealers. I remember things quite differently.

I would like to address some of the key issues in your article.

* At no time were we instructed to ignore dealers. We were told to focus on dealers with bigger volume (normal in the industry) and contact some of the smaller dealers by phone. We have huge geographical territories, necessitating that approach.
* The co-op program you discussed is a thing of the past and does not represent the current co-op program.
* There is no "squeeze play out there to force the dealers out" as (dealer Jim) M'Lady alleges. Yes, we discuss business plans with dealers. We give dealers the option of voluntarily terminating if they are not happy with the joint business plan. Yes, we discuss performance goals as all manufacturers do.
* As to (former field rep Dave) Seaver's contention that "they're starving the (dealers) out" and have "no intention of bringing in new product," how would an ex-employee know the company's current position?
* As to (former sales field rep Craig) Haglin's assertions: There was no "hit list." I never felt I couldn't tell the truth as I knew it.
* At no time did Isuzu indicate that (a rebadged Tahoe or Equinox) would be forthcoming.
* On the issue of a company bending its rules to favor a dealer, the real issue is having flexibility in its guidelines in order to help a dealer. There is a big difference.

In a competitive and challenging market, it is difficult for the best executives to make the correct decision 100 percent of the time. We at Isuzu try to do the best we can under trying circumstances.