Isuzu is pulling out of N. America?

My dad told me that Isuzu is supposed to pull out of the U.S. with the exception of the heavy trucks. He said by 2009. They'll stop selling new cars but do you think that'll mean they'll stop selling replacement parts, crash parts, and so on?
No new cars means no dealership, does no dealership mean no parts department?

Might be a good business to get into. Sell Isuzu parts in the U.S. to keep all the old ones going.

Will the value of an Isuzu drop like a rock if they pull out?

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Michael LeCompte

Has Isuzu been selling anything other than commercial to begin with. They're all crap regardless.

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Grant Hughes

Nah they aren't all bad. They've got a bad rap.

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Michael LeCompte

Where would we be without the vehicross?

The only Joe Isuzu things sold in the US in the past several years were a pickup truck that was really a rebadged Chevy S-10, and an SUV that was a rebadged Chevy Trailblazer.

And those made Merkurs look like strong sellers in their day, so no big surprise they pulled the plug. There will still (supposedly) be larger truck sales, like the NPR medium duty chassis that can make a nice service rig box truck and has popular intercooler cores.

I would expect dealer support to go the way of any brand that the plug's been pulled on, not much at all after all warranties have expired (whatever the minimum legal requirement is).

Now where is a copy of that epic thread from the old CRS rally board (predecessor of ss.com) where JV and that Isuzu vendor went at it for days after the Isuzu guy tried to say some obscure little I-Mark or Impulse or something was the best rally car ever since it finished 453rd in some events in Australia and New Zealand?

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Andrew Steere
Lyndeborough, NH
KB1PJY

fiasco Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Now where is a copy of that epic thread from the
> old CRS rally board (predecessor of ss.com) where
> JV and that Isuzu vendor went at it for days after
> the Isuzu guy tried to say some obscure little
> I-Mark or Impulse or something was the best rally
> car ever since it finished 453rd in some events in
> Australia and New Zealand?

That was bewilderingly epic.
It was on SS.com though.
It all started when the guy said "Isuzus have dominated whenever they have rallied and I asked, all to innocently with "Where?" and the guy posted 5 links from seriously Botswana showing a single Isuzu 26th out of 28 cars, and more wierd shit like that, so I jokingly as always, said Oh! I see You're Joe isuzu!!"


And off it went.
The guy is in business suppying overpriced OEM parts for owners of those cars orphaned by Isuzu USA, and the hilarious thing is people posted that the guy was a HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS to deal with, and the guy who statrted the thread, a kid in Utah, said right on the thread "Well if I have to deal with YOU (Joe Isuzu) then forget the Isuzu!"

Hilarious.
>
> Andrew Steere, 1973
> Lyndeborough, NH
> KB1PJY

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

It's a shame, my close friend has a Vehicross and it's a bad ass little truck. NIce torque, has held up very well, and it drives off road like a champ. We rally crossed it too, but the short wheelbase and high COG makes it very sketchy at speed. He's trying to figure out if he should sell now because of this very issue.

Search for Bill Luton. I've had to deal with him before... had one of those POS things.

It's not so much a POS as it is designed by mechano-sadists. Anything you needed to remove has a couple other things in the way/bolted to it and it was *recursive* until the very thing you're trying to take out is in the way of something else.

It was fun to drive but I cheered when the junkyard took it.

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Pete Remner
Cleveland, Ohio

1984 RX-7 (rallycross thing)
1978
Silence is golden, but duct tape is silver.

john vanlandingham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fiasco Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >
> > Now where is a copy of that epic thread from
> the
> > old CRS rally board (predecessor of ss.com)
> where
> > JV and that Isuzu vendor went at it for days



That was an awesome thread - I looked for it awhile ago, and just again now when this thread reminded me of it. Truely a fantastic slanging match.

Would read again!

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Nick Taylor.
Knobhead.
Los Angeles, CA.

Seriously and these are the 4 doors.

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Andrew M
Onterrible
30ish

OK let's set this record straight. Don't even think about contradicting to me because I am the fucking authority on this, I work for Chevy and Isuzu.

The Isuzu Hombre, which happens to be one of the most successful compact trucks sold in the US was actually designed and built by Isuzu. Not the other way around. When 10 Hombres were being sold for every 4 S-10s for the same exact price Chevy didn't like it much, they were essentially the same truck, with different badges, they were built in the same plant by the same workers. The main difference was the warranty, Chevy offered 3/36000 on the same truck whilst Isuzu had 5/60000. Here's the reason, after assembly each Hombre was subject to a post assembly inspection, every tenth Hombre was also test driven by an assembly foreman, unlike the S-10 that was shipped directly to the dealership upon completion of assembly. It was the dealerships' responsibility to do a PDI (pre-delivery inspection). Later on, when merde hit the ventilateur in Japan economically, Chevy convinced Isuzu to stop the Hombre badging and diverted the whole assembly to S-10.

Then came the GEO era. Isuzu built the GEO Storm. not very successful but inexpensive with decent technology.

Then came the Rodeo, which was an Opel design to begin with, Isuzu cheated on GM and made an agreement with Honda, they made a similar arrangement they have made in the S-10/Hombre case and started building Honda Pilot in the same plant they were building the Rodeo. Rodeo was a rather successful SUV and the sale numbers were in favor of Isuzu.

By the end of 2005 GM was losing money like shit through a goose, the fall of Daewoo and the consequent riots at the Korean plant opened a new door of opportunities to GM, there was an efficient plant to be bought with cheap labor for dirt cheap. So GM sponsored the plant, it's there where the AVEO and the Suzuki compact SUVs are built.

In the mean time Isuzu developped the Ascender, it was a tofu-like SUV, not too much flavor but does the job. Same warranty issues were in this model as the Hombre/S-10 case. Six months after the sale of the first Ascender, Chevy introduced the Trailblazer. Same exact SUV. Ascender sales numbers were less than OK, inspite of $6-8000 in rebates and incentives. Trailblazer sales were not any better, though Chevy only offered $4000 in Trailblazer rebates.

In 06 Isuzu developed the Colorado for Chevy, rather innovative with a 5 cylinder engine option. Isuzu marketed the same exact truck with the I series. Time will tell how Colorado/Canyon/I Series will fair in the shadow of Hombre/S-10 success story.

Isuzu has never been a strong passenger vehicle manufacturer. Isuzu's main focus has always been and will always be commercial medium duty trucks. Those who claim Isuzu medium duty trucks are piles of shit are simply ignorant and don't know what they are talking about. Isuzu offers the most comprehensive and longest warranty in medium duty trucks. There are more Isuzu trucks being the work horses of cities, municipalities, small and medium businesses in the US than any other brand. It is the same situation outside US, in spite of the influx of small 4 cylinder diesel light duty vans and truckettes in Europe and Far East, Isuzu is still the sales leader.

Here is the bitter truth, Isuzu is really pulling out of the passenger vehicles market in the US, GM is only interested in Isuzu medium duty trucks for all the reasons I explained above. They may or may not be badged Chevy but they assembly will be the same.

Don't you wish an automotive executive could be as plain and open as I am ? I guess that's why I am not an exec.

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Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2008 12:14PM by sagsert.

Let me just add to the Mooosie's above statements. Their medioum duty trucks ARE GREAT---although some parts are expensive, still great.

And they OWN the market in China with either Isuzu built Isuzus or Chinese built and branded versions of Isuzus.

(But they do use Garrett Turbos!)

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John Vanlandingham
Sleezattle, WA, USA

Vive le Prole-le-ralliat

www.rallyrace.net/jvab
CALL +1 206 431-9696
Remember! Pacific Standard Time
is 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time.

Quick Note;

Vehi-Cross was never supposed to come to US. It was designed and built for Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Before anybody starts bashing on it I'd recommend them to look at one in detail. Vehi-Cross, albeit very unorthodox in looks, was and probably still is 20 years ahead of it's time. Incredible technology, fantastic suspension, I repeat FANTASTIC SUSPENSION, horrible visibility in the US model, for other markets they had a rear view camera on top of the spare tire hump in the back. Super comfortable seats made by Recaro. Unusual looks and high price tag because of technology involved killed that model in the US. Subaru haters would probably like to hear that in Australia a rallying Vehi-Cross beat the crap out of Subies in rallies and rally raids.

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Cheers
M.Samli
Phoenix AZ
Gaylant VR4
EVO III GSR (Stolen)


Rallies are no place for traitors

Vanessa bought her 99 Amigo new back in very early 2000. It's got about 130k on it and has never given us any trouble beyond the odd raised eyebrow. It's got a 3.2L 24V DOHC V6 that makes 200-ish hp, a decent 4-spd automatic (can be swapped to a 5-spd). From what I've heard, the 3.2L is a GM engine, but it's remarkably enjoyable to own and drive. The IFS is something of a setback for the die hard rock crawlers, but it holds its own.

This is the truck which is rated to tow 3400lbs, yet hauled my 3400lb GVR4 and a U-Haul tow dolly across two states. Yes, it wasn't happy pulling up over the mountains around Flagstaff, but having driven gas V8 trucks hauling similar loads, they aren't too much better about getting out of their own way in the same situation. Furthermore, while I wouldn't comment directly on rally-ability of anything from Isuzu, our 'Migo felt pretty much at home bombing down all but the most technical of stages for Quartzsite and Desert Storm in 2007 at right around 60mph. Then it made short work of climbing up and over the berms along the roads to get us clear of traffic in order to shoot the events.

I have heard of someone over here on this side of the pond who was running an Impulse with the Lotus handling package in rallyx or something and being very happy with the handling built into the chassis by design. Like I said, I wouldn't call it a rally-bred make, but I am thoroughly impressed by Isuzu the more I've been around them. Love my 'Zu.

As for parts support, I've heard from the guys on PlanetIsuzoo.com that the plan is for the dealership/parts support to remain stateside until the warranty of the last 2009 passenger car is expired. At that point, they will likely pull up the last stake. Given a 3yr warranty (I'm not familiar with current Isuzu warranties), that would have Isuzu passenger car division in the states until 2012 at the least.

Shit. Love our Isuzu. Wish I had room for another. If you're looking for a reliable, inexpensive little truck to get you around on more than dry pavement, I would recommend them to anyone.

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Brian Driggs | KG7KCA | PHX, AZ | 89 Pajero
alterius non sit qui suus esse potest

Whats the story with 90's era troopers and the Acura three letter thing?

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Michael LeCompte