The Detroit News reports that Isuzu Motors has opted not to start building a new manufacturing facility in Alabama. Now while it refers to the automaker's commercial fleet, that brings up Isuzu's consumer side of the coin. I had to look up its website to see if it even still had a model range.

Fortunately for the legions of Isuzu-fanatics, the company still hawks a variety of rebadged General Motors vehicles. Isuzu managed 26,000 sales last year here in the U.S. Unfortunately it experienced a sharp sales decline, blamed by the company on the weak housing market. So the downturn this year is apparently the cause for the delay in opening the factory. Huh? Maybe try blaming the weak models in your lineup?

Does Isuzu have any model to release in the future? Increasing sales relies on product, product, product, and the last new homegrown model -- the Vehicross -- didn’t exactly set the sales charts on fire. I guess when all you do is slap some different badges on Chevy trucks you don’t need to do a whole lot.

How can companies like Isuzu stay afloat in the cutthroat and competitive U.S. market? Especially when huge companies like VW, GM, and Ford flounder? Is its overhead super-low? The only benefit I can see in buying one of these is the longer 7 year powertrain warranty offered. Wow! I smell success!


via guest blogger Jim Hamel