Isuzu Motors Ltd. is a Japanese car, commercial vehicle and heavy truck manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo.
In 2005, Isuzu became the world's largest manufacturer of medium to
heavy duty trucks. It has assembly and manufacturing plants in the
Japanese city of Fujisawa, as well as in the prefectures Tochigi and Hokkaidō. Isuzu is famous for producing commercial vehicles and diesel engines. By 2009, Isuzu had produced over 21 million diesel engines, which can be found in vehicles all over the world.[1] Isuzu diesel engines are used by Renault, Opel and General Motors.
In most of Asia, Africa, and Europe,
Isuzu is mostly known for trucks of all sizes, after Isuzu small
automobile sales drastically plummeted and Isuzu had to drop all sales
of sedans and compact cars in the late 1990s. In the United States,
Isuzu has ceased selling passenger vehicles. Isuzu as a corporation has
always been primarily a manufacturer of small to medium compact
automobiles and commercial trucks of sizes medium duty and larger, but
markets around the world show different needs. Isuzu has a contract with
Budget Truck Rental to manufacture their rental trucks. This contract is also shared with Ford, GMC, and Navistar International.
On November 7, 2006, Toyota acquired 5.9% of Isuzu, making them the third largest shareholder behind ITOCHU and Mitsubishi Corporation.
- January 2007 - Isuzu, along with General Motors Companies, release
an update to the LCV range, with a 3.0 litre common rail diesel motor,
with far more torque and power to its predecessor
- August 2007 - Isuzu and Toyota agree to develop a 1.6-liter diesel
engine for use in Toyota vehicles sold in European markets. Details of
development, production and supply of the diesel engine, are still under
discussion, but in principle, Isuzu will play the leading role.
Production is scheduled to begin around 2012.
- January 30, 2008 - Isuzu announces complete withdrawal from the US market,[3]
effective January 31, 2009. It will continue to provide support and
parts. The decision was mainly affected by slowing sales. Isuzu had been
experiencing a slow decline since the late 1990s. In less than 10
years, they had gone from selling a complete line of cars, trucks, and
SUVs, into being a specialized SUV maker, and finally selling only a
pair of rebadged, General Motors Trucks.[4] They will continue to sell commercial vehicles in the U.S.[5]
- January 29, 2009 - Isuzu and General Motors announce that they are
in talks to transfer the operation of the medium-duty truck production
line in Flint, Michigan
to Isuzu for a five-year period. In June, however, GM announced that
these talks failed to reach an agreement, and GM ceased production of
the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick vehicles on July 31, 2009.
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