If not GM, then someone else: Isuzu pres

TOKYO — You can expect to hear a lot more about Isuzu trucks over the next year.

The president of the Tokyo-based OEM, Susumu Hosoi, reinforced to a group of visiting North American trucking-industry journalists last week that his company is on the verge of staging “an aggressive offensive” to increase its medium-duty marketshare in North America.

And the fact is, Isuzu’s in a good position to do so. In its most recent annual report, the truck-and-engine manufacturer tallied an almost billion-dollar profit on about $18 billion in global sales.

In its first year of operation here in Canada, Hosoi said, Isuzu Commercial Truck of Canada opened six dealerships and intends to have two more operating by the end of the year.

But more significantly, head office is also looking at opportunities for strategic alliances with another truck manufacturer, the most likely candidate being General Motors.

The industry is rife with rumors of a sale by GM of its medium-duty truck division to Isuzu, and although Hosoi said no official offer has been made, Isuzu would be “interested” if The General actually did come to the table with a proposal.

It’s tough for MD truckmakers to take on
the North American market alone, says Isuzu

But even if it doesn’t, the company might have to turn to other alliances in order to boost volume next year.

"If you look at the historical relationship between GM and Isuzu, our collaboration dates back 35 years," he said. "We’ve been working with GM supplying cabs and engines and contracting out their assembly; even on sales fronts we’ve been working together.

"If they choose to sell their commercial vehicle assets to another company, that would affect Isuzu’s ability to increase our commercial vehicle volume and because we are now focusing on increasing our volume base, we may have to turn to other companies."

Hosoi told the press gathering, of which Today’s Trucking was part of, that no medium-duty manufacturer is poised to go it alone, especially in light of increased raw-material costs and heightened emission-control standards.

"Fuel prices affect our production and our customers want fuel efficiency. And we can’t transfer all the costs of environmental safeguards to customers."

Isuzu’s VP fleet operations and marketing, Todd Bloom, said sales predictions for 2009 are down once again, but “compared to the rest of the automotive landscape, we’re [Isuzu] doing very well, thank you very much.”

In North America, Isuzu’s prime product is the low-cab-forward P&D delivery truck. However, for other markets — especially in Asia — Isuzu produces a full range of autos, buses, pick-ups and class-8s.