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いすず自動車が北米市場から撤退
これは大きな“事件”、日本経済の行き詰まりを象徴する事件だと思うのだが
日本ではなぜか報道されていないようです。
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http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jU36x9V9UZJ8uQqIFloUksa-wPsQD8UGGM9G0
Isuzu to End Sales in North America
By DEE-ANN DURBIN and TOM KRISHER – 17 hours ago
DETROIT (AP) — The company that developed one of the first mid-sized sport utility vehicles and brought you an ad campaign with a fibbing salesman says it will stop selling new passenger vehicles in North America.
Isuzu Motors Ltd. said Wednesday it will end distribution of its sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks starting Jan. 31, 2009.
The Japanese company blamed the move on General Motors Corp. ceasing production for Isuzu of the Ascender sport utility vehicle and i-290 and i-370 pickup trucks.
"It has always been our intention to remain in the U.S. market," Terry Maloney, Isuzu president and chief operating officer, said in a statement. "However, we were unable to secure any commercially viable replacements for these vehicles."
Isuzu spokesman Chip Letzgus would give no more details about the decision Wednesday, saying the company was still talking to dealers and employees. He said Isuzu will likely release further details later this week.
Isuzu sold only 7,098 vehicles in the U.S. in 2007, down nearly 18 percent from the previous year, according to Autodata Corp.
The company said in a statement that it will back its products and dealers for years to come, honoring all product warranties and roadside assistance programs.
Isuzu will offer all current U.S. vehicle dealers the chance to stay on as service-only dealers, the company said.
"Isuzu will discontinue the sales of vehicles only. Our parts and service operation will remain fully functional," Maloney's statement said. "We expect the vast majority of our dealers will continue as service-only dealers."
GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not comment on Isuzu and said the company has not made an announcement on whether it will stop producing its vehicles. The Detroit-based GM makes the Ascender at its plant in Moraine, Ohio, near Dayton, and the pickups are manufactured at a factory in Shreveport, La.
The Ascender is a mid-sized sport utility vehicle similar to a Chevrolet TrailBlazer, while the two pickups are similar to the mid-sized Chevrolet Colorado.
John Rogin, who owns Detroit-area Isuzu, Suzuki and GM dealerships, said he was blindsided by the news Wednesday. He said Isuzu vehicles have always been reliable and have a cult-like following among some owners.
Rogin said Isuzu was at its best when it focused on innovative, high-volume products like the Isuzu Trooper, which was one of the first midsize SUVs on the market in the early 1980s. But Trooper sales plummeted in 1996 when Consumer Reports said the Trooper was dangerous and prone to tipping.
Isuzu Motors America Inc. said Consumer Reports rigged testing on the Trooper, falsified documents and used "driving stunts" to make it appear the vehicle was vulnerable to a rollover, but the damage was done. Consumer Reports stood by its testing, and Isuzu said it lost $244 million in sales and damage to its reputation.
"They suffered an unfair mortal wound because of that," Rogin said.
Rogin said the company also was hurt when it stopped distributing cars in the U.S. in 1993 and became fully truck-based.
Isuzu became a household word in 1986 with a popular ad campaign featuring the lying car salesman Joe Isuzu, played by actor David Leisure.
Isuzu made outrageous claims about vehicle performance even as his statements were contradicted and corrected in captions at the bottom of the commercial frame.
"It gets 94 miles per gallon city, 112 highway," he said in one early commercial as the subtitle flashed: "He's lying. 34 mpg city, 40 highway."
The campaign was discontinued in 1990.
Isuzu and other small Japanese automakers were hurt badly by the rise of Korean automakers Hyundai and Kia, which took much of their sales of small sport utility vehicles and cars, said Erich Merkle, vice president of auto industry forecasting for the consulting firm IRN Inc. in Grand Rapids.
Recently, Isuzu relied on GM products in slow-selling segments, leading to its demise here, Merkle said. Since its products essentially are GM's, customers will be assured that they can get parts and service, Merkle said.
As Isuzu exits the competitive U.S. market, Merkle said he will miss the clever Joe Isuzu ads.
"I always like to get a little chuckle," he said. "Maybe somebody else can hire him."
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