Free Advice to Isuzu - What You Could Have Done Instead

[69Firebird400]

With Wednesday's announcement that Isuzu would stop selling light vehicles in the US on January 31, 2009, many people were not surprised to hear the news. After all, their product lineup has limped along for the past half decade consisting solely of rebadged GM vehicles. The entire value proposition that Isuzu offered to consumers was a longer warranty than the equivalent GMC or Chevrolet SUV or midsize pickup offered. However, the cost of buying an Isuzu was a small dealer network (making it difficult to find service or support if needed while traveling) and puzzled glances from strangers when you told them you drove an Isuzu I370 or Ascender...and even more puzzled glances when you tried to trade it in on a new vehicle. ("Too bad it's an Isuzu and not a GMC.")

Even before Isuzu announced that it was abandoning the US market, Autosavant's Blake Muntzinger speculated on some possible alternatives for Isuzu two weeks ago. You can read his excellent piece here; basically, he said that Toyota's ownership stake in Isuzu could have allowed them to sell rebadged versions of Toyota vehicles sold elsewhere in the world in the US as Isuzus. To expand on Blake's concept, a few of us had a conversation yesterday afternoon about how Isuzu just seemed to "give up" without trying very hard to find new product. As a service to Isuzu, we'll recap a few of the main points of that discussion below.

More here - let me know what you think!

[t-rex]

In theory, allowing Isuzu to become a conduit for an emerging brand sounds feasible. But there are several drawbacks that would keep such a plan from being successful: firstly, Isuzus are at least class-competent, if not better in some cases, vehicles, something that can't be said for the Mahindra Scorpio, which would have bankrupted Isuzu if they sold them under the current warranty plan. And it's the same for Chinese brands. Had the quality been there 5 years ago, it would have been feasible, but that nation's home-grown products have quite a few years to go before they're up to Western quality standards.

There's one Chinese company, ZX Auto, however that might feasibly have a better shot. It's new Landscape SUV and Grand Tiger pickup seem to be at least one cut above the standard Chinese four-wheeled fare. If ZX could get quality up to par, maybe offer Isuzu powerplants in lieu of pirated Mitsubishi four-bangers, they could, in theory, provide the basis for a ZX-Isuzu joint venture for North America.

Another possible scheme would be to have Isuzu sell JDM Toyotas, and not necessarily SUVs only, that aren't represented here. Isuzu could offer products such as the next-gen Prado, Verossa sports sedan, Allion compact-midsize sedan, Probox Ute-Wagon, in addition to any of the host of quirky MPV type wagons and niche sedans offered by Toyota domestically. Since none of those vehicles are sold in North America, other than the Lexus version of the Prado, there'd be no issues over badge-engineering, and the products themselves wouldn't compete directly with Toyota's N/A offerings.

[69Firebird400]

Excellent analysis, t-rex. Couldn't the warranty obstacle be overcome by having a clause in the agreement that the Chinese (or Indian) manufacturer is responsible for x% (or 100%) of all warranty claims? I have no idea if Mahindras are reliable or not - apparently not?

Our writer expressed a similar idea of selling JDM Toyotas (and Daihatsus) a few weeks ago. Definitely another possible option.

I just don't understand why Isuzu seemed to give up so easily. It's almost like they were surprised that no new product was on the horizon, when in fact the rest of the world has seen the writing on the wall for a while.

[jry]

You know, its not like they didn't try. One could argue that the Axiom was the first crossover vehicle. It was sharp looking. I almost bought one. I think the thing was way underpowered. Low on the acceleration scale.
Nice looking, though.