With the goof on infant seats, Consumer reports is in the news
Here's the latest, with a history of lawsuits.

Isuzu comes up.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070120/ap_on_re_us/infant_seats

From: http://www.isuzunewsbureau.com/download.php?id=364&type=file
Feb 5 press release. Isuzu had no vehicles there, but this statement was made.

PRESS STATEMENT ABOUT ISUZUÆS ANNOUNCEMENTS
AT THE 2007 NADA CONVENTION


LAS VEGAS, Nev. ù Officials of Isuzu Motors America, Inc., met with its franchised dealers at the National Automobile Dealer Association (NADA) convention today.

J. Terry Maloney, president and chief operating officer of the company, announced that Isuzu Motors America, Inc., made a profit on operations in 2006, marking the second consecutive year of operating profits for the company. Maloney attributed the achievement to the extensive restructuring of the company and the addition of new i-290 and i-370 Pickup models, which helped absorb some of the shock of high gasoline prices that affected the SUV market. ôWith lower gas prices and a strong economy,ö Maloney said, ôwe project that 2007 will mark a æhat trickÆ for Isuzu Motors America, a third consecutive year of operating profits.ö

He also outlined the companyÆs initiatives for 2007, including: continued aggressive incentive programs; reinvestment in the companyÆs market support program for all dealers; continuation of reward and recognition programs for dealers and their staffs; establishment of new dealers in critical markets where Isuzu is not currently represented; and enhancement of the companyÆs field contact support.

Maloney said, ôIsuzu Motors America, Inc., is a valuable niche distributor that supplies real value to the market by offering excellent products priced competitively and backed by outstanding warranty protection.ö

Isuzu Motors America, Inc., is the U.S. distributor of Isuzu light vehicles and diesel engines. For more information, call (800) 662-2464 or access www.IsuzuNewsBureau.com.

Wanted: Isuzu dealers (no joke)
Kathy Jackson / Automotive News / February 5, 2007
Link To Story Here

LOS ANGELES -- It may be the most downtrodden, underachieving brand in the United States, but that isn't stopping Isuzu from trying aggressively to sign up new dealers.

Huh? A brand whose 227 dealers averaged just three sales per month last year wants more dealers?

Indeed. And not only that, some entrepreneurs are eagerly snapping up Isuzu franchises.

What gives?

Isuzu sold just 8,614 light-duty vehicles in 2006, down from 98,066 as recently as 2000. Last year only 15 of its 227 dealers sold 100 or more units. Some observers reckon that Isuzu Motors America is on the verge of pulling out of the U.S. light-duty market.

"I understand, looking at sales figures, how you could say we're in trouble," says Isuzu spokesman Chip Letzgus. "But we have no intention of leaving the U.S. market."

And he says signing up for an Isuzu franchise is a no-brainer for some retailers.

"It does not require a huge investment," Letzgus says. "And we're very easy to do business with."

Letzgus says the company has identified 40 markets where the brand is not represented or underrepresented. Most are on the east and west coasts and in the Midwest. Isuzu wants to add 40 to 50 dealers.

Letzgus says Isuzu has been getting plenty of bites from prospective retailers since launching the drive for new dealers late last year. Since the beginning of the year, two new dealers have been licensed, and Letzgus says a handful of others are in the process.

Profit opportunity

"Isuzu represents a good profit opportunity for the right dealer," Letzgus says. "It could be a used-car dealer or a dealer without pickups or mid-sized SUVs."

Isuzu has only two products: the five-seat Ascender SUV, based on the Chevrolet TrailBlazer; and the i-series pickup, derived from GM's small-pickup platform.

Rebecca Lindland, of Global Insight's automotive group, had written Isuzu out of her U.S. market forecast after 2009, when GM is expected to kill the Ascender. But she put the brand back in after learning of the new dealer push -- and because Isuzu probably will get a version of the redesigned GM small pickup in 2010.

"They still will only have one model," she says. "I still don't see how they can stay in business unless there are some backdoor deals going on that no one knows about."

Despite the sad-sack sales numbers -- down 29.3 percent in 2006 and off 68.3 percent since 2004 -- Letzgus says Isuzu Motors America was profitable in 2005 and 2006.

Joe Chavara, who owns Ford, Lincoln-Mercury and Land Rover franchises in Orlando, Fla., was the first dealer to sign on.

Another new store will be operated by Phil Petrus in Little Rock, Ark., where Isuzu does not have a franchise.

Chavara has dualed Isuzu with his Lincoln-Mercury store, putting an Ascender in the showroom. He says he has no inside knowledge of plans by Isuzu to expand its U.S. lineup.

"But for us, it's a good fit," he says. "Lincoln-Mercury does not have a small pickup, so one reason was to get the pickups. But our priority is the (Isuzu) service business."

Few demands

Isuzu makes few demands of its new dealers.

Chavara says the only requirements were that he purchase 30 Isuzu vehicles, put up an Isuzu sign and buy parts and tools. The entire investment, excluding the vehicles, was about $40,000. Other new dealers may be asked to purchase a smaller or larger number of vehicles depending on local market potential.

Chavara's dealership sold three Ascenders in January, and he says he's getting an average of $200 from every Isuzu service customer.

"I don't think they'll abandon this market," Chavara says. "I'm willing to risk the low cost of entering with the potential upside. Most of my business will be on the service side."

Petrus, 55, had remodeled a building on auto row in Little Rock, Ark., and was selling used vehicles when Isuzu's district manager dropped by last year. The manager asked Petrus whether he would take an Isuzu franchise. Little Rock had no Isuzu dealer.

"I just laughed," Petrus says. "I thought, 'Why in the world would I want to be an Isuzu dealer?'

He had been a new-car dealer from 1975 until 1991. With his youngest son in college, Petrus decided to get back in business and began selling used vehicles. He says he didn't know much about Isuzu but saw a Rodeo last year and liked it. Petrus bought it and put an ad in the paper.

"Lo and behold, I had two people fighting over it," he says.

Petrus asked them why they wanted the car. They said they had either owned an Isuzu before or knew someone who had. Petrus then bought an Ascender, sold it quickly and began to think about getting the franchise. "I'm sure I'll get kidded about it," he says.

Petrus ordered his first shipment of 25 cars in January. The investment, excluding the cars, was about $65,000. "I was amazed at the investment," he says. "When I had my other stores, I was used to $1 million or so for anything."

'I've put in millions'

That low cost of entry has riled Jim M'Lady, owner of Jim M'Lady Isuzu in Crystal Lake, Ill.

"They're asking new dealers to come in here with hardly any money," says M'Lady. "I've put in millions."

M'Lady is embroiled in a dispute with Isuzu, which says he isn't selling enough cars or advertising the brand. M'Lady, who also owns a Nissan store, sold only three Isuzus last year. He wants to keep the franchise but handle only service work.

The company has informed M'Lady that he must keep an inventory of at least 60 vehicles, sell at least 20 new vehicles a month and spend at least $15,000 a month on advertising.

"This is crazy," says M'Lady, who says he sold more than 100 Isuzus a month in the early 1990s.

The dispute goes to a hearing in April before the Illinois Motor Review Board.

"I don't think it is fair what Isuzu is doing," M'Lady says. "I'm not selling any vehicles because people don't want them. I want to keep it because of the service. But they want me to sell 20 a month.

Letzgus would not comment on the M'Lady situation but says the new dealers are not getting special treatment. He says each must sign the standard franchise agreement.

Letzgus says: "We are looking for our current and future dealers to put an appropriate amount of energy and focus on selling the cars."

The information is inaccurate on the graph legend: 2003 was NOT the last year for Axiom. My Axiom is of 2004 year.

Thanks / will fix the next time I post it.

From the last couple of Automotive News trade magazine:

Susumu Hosoi, 57, will become president of Isuzu Motors Ltd. He currently is an executive vice president at Isuzu and will replace Yoshinori Ida. Ida, 63, who has been president since 2001, will become chairman. The changes will become official at the annual shareholders meeting at the end of June.

Hosoi will have to walk a tightrope between General Motors and Toyota Motor Corp.

Toyota bought a 5.6 percent stake in Isuzu last November. But Isuzu still has several business partnerships with GM, which once owned as much as 48 percent of the truck and diesel-engine maker. GM sold its last Isuzu holdings, 7.9 percent, in April 2006.

Hosoi says GM and Toyota are "very important partners" for Isuzu. "We will have to have more talks with GM," he says. Isuzu will have to "consider flexibly" how to handle diesel ventures with GM in North America and Europe.

Meanwhile, Isuzu and Toyota still are determining areas for cooperation beyond joint development of small diesel engines. Those ties are complicated by Toyota's longtime truck subsidiary, Hino Motors Ltd. "I can't say concretely" how Isuzu and Hino will work together, if at all, Hosoi says.

Hosoi has sales and operational experience in Japan and abroad. He was first vice president and then president of Isuzu Motors America Inc. from April 1997 to January 1999. Before that he was president of Isuzu Motors Asia Ltd. He also has run service, parts and used-vehicle operations in Japan.

Isuzu also announced a number of other personnel changes. Haruki Mizutani will hand over the presidency of D-Max Ltd., the Isuzu-GM diesel-engine venture in Moraine, Ohio, to Maho Mitsuya. Mitsuya is a manufacturing manager at D-Max.

Mizutani will return to Japan to become a corporate officer responsible for global manufacturing and powertrain technology, among other areas.

Indirectly Isuzu, as hopefully the trend of eliminating the Chicken Tax will end and Isuzu will be able to ship vehicles to the USA without a 25% tariff. We'll see if this passes Congress.
----------------------
The U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement was announced April 1 after 10 months of negotiations. It still must be approved by Congress, where it will face strong opposition, and by the Korean National Assembly.

The proposed free trade agreement with South Korea could open the United States to inexpensive pickups. For years, U.S.-made pickups have been sheltered from foreign competition by a 25 percent tariff (the "Chicken Tax")on imports. To escape the tariff, Japanese automakers build pickups in North America.

By comparison, the U.S. tariff on imported cars and SUVs is a modest 2.5 percent.

But if the pact with Korea is approved, the tariff for pickups made there would disappear gradually, in 10 annual installments, says Stephen Norton, assistant press secretary in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative in Washington. That would give Korean factories a huge advantage for exporting pickups to the United States.

Overall, there were 21,761 new-vehicle dealerships in the United States on Jan. 1, down 328 from the previous year -- the largest reduction in the past decade. The number of new-vehicle franchises dropped by 356, to 40,285.

Last year, the Detroit 3 collectively shed 462 dealerships, according to the census. At the start of 2007, GM had 6,901 dealerships, down 222 from the previous Jan. 1.

In the same period, GM subtracted just 97 franchises, reflecting the consolidation effort. On a smaller scale, GM seeks to combine Cadillac, Saab and Hummer franchises within luxury dealerships in some markets.

The Chrysler group's consolidation plan, called Alpha, seeks to combine Chrysler division, Dodge and Jeep franchises in the same dealerships. The group's retail network shed 119 franchises in 2006. The number of dealerships selling all three brands rose by 31, to 1,934. "We want to work to increase profitability and dealer throughput," says Markus Mainka, Chrysler group spokesman. "To achieve that goal, we see potential for network optimization."

Ford Motor launched a plan last summer to cut at least 600 dealerships over the next few years. Ford Motor Co. had 4,270 dealerships on Jan.1, down 126 from the year-ago date. The Chrysler group had 3,749 dealerships, down 134.

The Detroit 3 are reducing their counts faster than their import competitors are raising theirs.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. outsells the Chrysler group in the United States and sells almost as many units as Ford Motor. But on Jan. 1, Toyota Division had 1,224 franchises, nine more than it had on Jan. 1, 2006, and barely one-third as many as Ford division's count.

Three second-tier imports each lost more than 20 dealerships last year. Isuzu's franchise count declined by 67, to 227 on Jan. 1. Mitsubishi's fell by 42, to 503. Mazda's declined by 22, to 687.

n the past 10 years, the number of import-exclusive U.S. dealerships rose 72.5 percent, from 3,551 on Jan. 1, 1997, to 6,127 at the beginning of this year. The 2006 bump was the 12th straight annual increase and seventh consecutive record total. Last year's increase was 223 dealerships.

In an exclusive outlet, all energies are devoted to the designated brand, be it Toyota or Mercedes-Benz or Land Rover. There's no division of time for management, the sales staff or the service department. No sharing of showroom space among two or three or a half-dozen makes.

Over the past decade, 20 of the 22 best-selling import makes have added solo outlets -- all except Mitsubishi and Isuzu. Some of the increases have been dramatic. Volkswagen had only 66 one-liners in 1997. Today it counts 275, with two fewer franchises.

In the same period, Porsche rose from five exclusive dealerships to 69; Audi, from five to 85; Hyundai, from to 50 to 394. Its Korean partner, Kia, jumped from 17 to 367.

In the past decade, exclusive dealerships have increased 45 percent for Nissan Division, 30 percent for Honda Division and 25 percent for Toyota Division. Those percentage gains are not as great as the advances mentioned earlier, but the companies started from a larger base.

Last year Toyota Division regained the lead in exclusive dealerships from Honda Division. The two makes have bounced first place back and forth in recent years. Toyota Division has 867 single-brand stores, about 70.8 percent of its 1,224 U.S. franchises.

Toyota added 35 exclusive franchises last year, but its franchise total rose by only nine. Honda Division had 839 solo dealerships at the beginning of this year, and Nissan Division reported 791. The three brands account for 40.8 percent of import-exclusive dealerships in the United States.

As for nation of origin, it was strictly a one-country show. Japanese brands accounted for 4,211 of the one-brand import dealerships, 68.7 percent of the total. Germany trailed with 765, and Korea had 761.

As import-exclusives have risen, domestic single-liners have continued to decline. General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler group's North America brands had 6,528 exclusive outlets on Jan. 1, down from 6,927 a year earlier. At the beginning of 2002, GM, Ford and Chrysler counted 7,569 one-brand dealerships.

The domestic total is for stores that handle only one of the parent company's brands.

Ford division leads the domestics with 2,328 exclusives, and Chevrolet has 2,170.

Automoive News

TOKYO (Reuters) -- Japan's Isuzu Motors Ltd. said today that it has bought land for a U.S. truck plant in Alabama, pushing ahead with plans to reestablish a production base in the world's biggest vehicle market.

Isuzu said in December it wanted to build a plant in North America, adding that a local factory would be appropriate when U.S. truck sales reached 50,000 units a year. It is looking at building 2-3 ton trucks, adding to Isuzu's sole offering of 3.5 ton N-series trucks in the United States, a source has said.

The truck maker declined to provide details on plans for the factory but a source said the plant was scheduled to come on line around 2010 and initial annual production capacity would be several thousand units.

After years of restructuring, Isuzu is pinning its hopes on increasing truck sales in the United States, hoping to offset stagnating domestic demand.

It pulled out of a joint vehicle production venture with Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. in 2002, which built sport utility vehicles.

The truck maker sold some 28,000 units in the U.S. in 2006, most of which were exported. It subcontracts production of the gasoline version of the N-series to former top shareholder General Motors.

Isuzu spokesman Koitsu Mabuchi said the land cost $7.8 million.