Isuzu posts record profit but sees weakness ahead
James B. Treece | Automotive News May 14, 2007

TOKYO -- Isuzu Motors Ltd. posted record profits in outgoing President Yoshinori Ida's last year. But incoming President Susumu Hosoi warns that a slowdown in the domestic Japanese truck market will cut profits this fiscal year.

In the fiscal year that ended March 31, operating profits rose 18.0 percent to a record 106.98 billion yen, or $906.2 million at current exchange rates. Net income surged 56.7 percent to a record $782.7 million. Revenues rose 5.1 percent to $14.09 billion. Truck sales grew 4.5 percent to 646,824.

Profits rose mostly on cost-cutting. In addition, currency gains covered the cost of several product launches. Higher, more profitable sales offset higher raw-material prices. The largest sales gains came in the Middle East, Africa and South America.

For the current fiscal year that began April 1, Isuzu predicts its revenues will decline 1.8 percent. Operating profits will tumble 23.6 percent. Net profits will slide 36.8 percent, the company says. Global truck sales will rise 1.4 percent to 656,000. China, Latin America and Europe will show the strongest gains. Sales in Japan will fall a steep 24.0 percent.

"We don't see domestic demand rising," Hosoi says. Japanese truck sales have risen for several years, as fleets ordered new models to meet tightened truck-emissions regulations. But those sales began tapering in the second half of the last fiscal year.

Sales of Isuzu's commercial vehicles in North America will soften slightly, to 32,000 from 33,000 in the year that just ended. That will be roughly half the sales volume expected in Latin America.

Isuzu plans finance unit for trucks
Captive will start in Northeast, go nationwide early next year
Donna Harris | Automotive News May 14, 2007

Isuzu Motors is launching a captive finance company for its U.S. commercial truck business. The company will not finance consumer vehicles. Isuzu Finance of America Inc. begins operations next month. Isuzu has two Japanese partners in the company: Itochu Corp., a trading firm; and Tokyo Leasing Co. Ltd., a financial services firm.

Last year Isuzu sold 15,751 medium and heavy-duty trucks in the United States. Most commercial truckmakers have captive finance companies, said Jim DeFrank, senior vice president of Isuzu Finance.

"Most dealers would like to be a one-stop shop for their truck purchases, including parts, service, financing, insurance and warranties," DeFrank told Automotive News. "This is something they have been asking for, for some time."

Isuzu Finance, of Purchase, N.Y., will start doing business at 125 commercial truck dealerships in 14 states in the Northeast. It will expand to Isuzu's three other U.S. regions early next year. Isuzu has about 500 commercial truck dealerships in the United States. Isuzu Finance will offer subsidized finance rates from the manufacturer. Isuzu dealers typically have offered financing through GMAC Financial Services and local banks.

Isuzu is promoting the finance unit at dealer meetings and with brochures and mailings. It briefed members of Isuzu's dealer council during the American Truck Dealers Association convention last month. Says DeFrank: "Reaction has been very positive."

Isuzu posts record profits
Automotive News May 21, 2007 - 1:00 am

TOKYO -- In the fiscal year that ended March 31, operating profits at Isuzu Motors Ltd. rose 18.0 percent to a record Ñ106.98 billion, or $906.2 million at current exchange rates. Revenues rose 5.1 percent to $14.09 billion. Truck sales grew 4.5 percent to 646,824.

Profits rose mostly on cost cutting. In addition, currency gains covered the cost of several new product launches. Higher, more profitable sales offset higher raw material prices.

In the current fiscal year that began April 1, Isuzu predicts revenues will decline 1.8 percent, operating profits will tumble 23.6 percent, net profits will slide 36.8 percent, and sales in Japan will fall 24.0 percent.


GM will reduce Isuzu diesels ... now if they'd start producing small diesel engines!
Automotive News May 21, 2007 - 1:00 am

TOKYO -- General Motors plans to install fewer Isuzu-designed diesel engines in its vehicles over the next 12 months.

Isuzu Motors Ltd. says that, based largely on its GM contracts, it expects to produce 179,000 diesel engines at DMAX Ltd., of Moraine, Ohio, in the fiscal year that began April 1. That would be down 15.6 percent from 212,000 in the fiscal year that ended March 31 and down from 202,000 the fiscal year before that.

DMAX builds a 6.6-liter V-8 diesel used in full-sized GM pickups and SUVs. GM owns 60 percent of DMAX and Isuzu the rest.

Yeah....why would anyone want a small, longer lasting (than gas engine), more fuel effeicient (per gallon) diesel?

Wayne, my understanding is that there are looking forward to the new future business: making fuel-cell cars and electric cars. With the fuel-efficient diesel cars, they may undermine their future business.

You may think that this is a joke, but this may be not, according to my experience with the corporate America. For example, my current company is intentionally killing a healthy, robust, highly-profitable, market-leading business becouse it MAY undermine, in future, their other business. That "other business" is currently slow, money-losing, unpopular market-underdog, but the company "analists" decided that it MAY be the company's future. I observe this agony right now.

Capitalist system may be the best system, but it is still far from perfect.

The main problem in the capitalist system, according to my personal investigations, is that the management's interests are not the same as the company's interests (in the publically-owned companies). Nobody solved this problem yet.

Not exactly corporate news but figured this would be the best place to post this...

We have been abandoned!!

From FabFour57 on planetisuzoo


That is all

What stinks is Isuzu's lack of a clear message. Just reviewing this (and the other) Corp News threads shows them flip-flopping over and over. I hope the next message flips them back the other way (their own passenger vehicles in the USA).

My note:
------------------------------
http://www.MyIsuzuParts.com
It goes back to 1986. I did notice they don't have the 1993 Isuzu Amigo, just the pickup, trooper, and rodeo. ODd.

You can search by VIN, and it's supposed to have IPB's (Illustrated Parts Breakdowns) online. I'm just starting to play with it.
-----------------------------------------
ISUZU MAKES FINDING REPLACEMENT PARTS
EASIER, FASTER WITH NEW WEBSITE
MyIsuzuParts.com Offers Comprehensive Results, Detailed Pictures, More

CERRITOS, Calif. ù Isuzu Motors America, Inc., has recently launched an innovative website for independent service shops, consumers and others looking for Isuzu Genuine Parts.

MyIsuzuParts.com ( http://www.MyIsuzuParts.com/ )offers easy ways to search for parts information and request price quotes via e-mail from participating local Isuzu dealerships.

To obtain parts information for select Isuzu vehicles from the 1996 model year to the present, a user may enter either the vehicleÆs model year and series or its vehicle identification number. Information is available for 1996 and later Isuzu Trooper, Rodeo, Amigo, VehiCROSS, Axiom, Rodeo Sport, Ascender and i-Series Pickup models.

Quick, comprehensive results are accompanied by detailed pictures for parts verification. An illustration index allows users to find parts by browsing through an illustration index. Once the desired part has been found, it can be placed into a Quote Request Cart. Users may then receive price quotes from up to five different participating Isuzu dealers by e-mailùor they can use the dealer locator function to contact a local dealership by phone with the part number.

According to Petar Vavan, vice president of field service operations for Isuzu Motors America, ôMyIsuzuParts.com is a fresh new website that will revolutionize the way people locate Isuzu Genuine Parts. ItÆs convenient, itÆs powered by the latest in technology, and it delivers results.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.
http://www.myisuzuparts.com/

Paper: Isuzu plans engine plant
Automotive News, June 18, 2007 - 1:00 am

TOKYO -- Isuzu Motors Ltd. will build a diesel-engine plant in Japan to supply Toyota Motor Corp.'s European demand for diesels, according to Japan's Nikkei newspaper. In 2012, Isuzu's new plant will start producing 1.6-liter diesel engines and will have capacity to make 200,000 engines a year, the newspaper said.

The engine will be developed jointly by the two companies and will be used in a Corolla-class car in Europe. The plant will be on Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, close to an existing Isuzu engine plant and a Toyota automatic-transmission plant. It will cost about $240 million, the newspaper said.

Edmunds.com News Flash: Isuzu Lives!
Date posted: 05-07-2007

LONDON ù Isuzu Motors, which has all but disappeared from the U.S. retail scene, appears to be alive and sputtering along in Europe.

From England comes word that Prodrive, the performance expert, has gussied up an Isuzu Rodeo pickup. The new Rodeo Denver Max goes on sale in June in the U.K., priced from $39,900.

The Rodeo Denver Max features the Prodrive Performance Pack, plus 18-inch shadow-chrome alloy wheels shod with 60-series Pirelli Scorpion Zero tires, a bedliner, a hard top, chrome side steps, rear step bumper, brushed-steel door entry guards and leather seats.

The performance pack boosts output on the truck's 2.5-liter turbodiesel from 136 to 167 horsepower, while torque climbs from 217 to 293 pound-feet. Its 0-60-mph acceleration time is trimmed from 12.8 to 11.7 seconds.

What this means to you: With prices like this, we're guessing Isuzu doesn't have many more customers in the U.K. than it does in the States.
-----------------------------
It looks like a franken-vehicle, like a pickup with a camper top shaped with an American Isuzu Rodeo rear end. This is obviously not your Thailand working truck. Picture should be below (if it wasn't moved)

DR Automobiles sells 121 Chinese vehicles in 10 days
Luca Ciferri, Automotive News Europe
June 25, 2007 - 1:00 am

TURIN, Italy -- DR Automobiles Groupe, the Italian importer of vehicles built by ChinaÆs Zhejiang Gonow Automobile, said it sold 121 units during a 10-day event in a shopping mall. Buyers made a Ç990 down payment for the vehicles. DR Automobiles said they would be delivered in 20 days.

The sale underscores that there is considerable consumer interest in Chinese cars. DR Automobiles believes it can make a business out of that interest. Last December, the company announced ambitious plans to sell Chinese-built cars in Italy. It created a new brand, Katay, specifically to distribute these vehicles.

DR Automobiles said it sold 79 units of the Katay Victory -- a five-door medium SUV based on an old Isuzu Trooper design -- for Ç15,990 each during the mall sale in late May in Lonato, northern Italy.

Looks more like that rebadged GM junk then a trooper to me..