Friday, February 1, 2008

Isuzu Calls It Quit in America

R.I.P Isuzu

After 26 years of selling commercial vehicles and passenger cars, the latter more than a decade ago, Isuzu America is no more. With only two truck models carrying the struggling car manufacture, the Ascender and I-series pickup, both based off General Motors' platforms, sales have declined drastically to just 4,138 units in 2007.

The writing on the wall was visible for some time, even as far back as 1993 when Isuzu stopped selling the popular Lotus-tuned Impulse (photo above) and Stylus sedan to focus on light trucks and SUVs. Even attempts to resurrect the brand in the public's mind with fictional 80s commercial icon, Joe Isuzu, didn't do much to improve sales or America's perception of the brand.

With so many companies trimming the fat of slow selling brands or models, it's sad to see Isuzu wasn't able to bring some innovative cars to our shores beyond the less stylish GM clones.

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