The Isuzu i-Series mid-size pickup truck line was launched at the 2005 New York International Auto Show. The i-Series replaces the Isuzu Hombre, which has been out of production since 2000.
Like the Hombre, the i-Series shares its platform with the General Motors mid-size pickups. It is built at the same plant in Shreveport, Louisiana which produces the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, which were in turn developed off the cab and chassis of the Thai-built Isuzu D-Max by GM, Isuzu, and GM do Brasil. The sales for the i-Series were poor, with just 1,377 sold from the start of production through February 2006 according to Automotive News.
As part of Isuzu’s withdrawal from the United States market after the 2009 model year, the i-Series was discontinued, replaced by the related Hummer H3T for GM’s Hummer brand.
But sitting in an Isuzu today feels like sitting in a coffin at your own funeral. You can't tell whether what you're seeing is real or if it's some strange, Twilight-Zone story dreamed up by a googly-eyed kook in a mental hospital.
The Ascender is the same thing as a Chevrolet Trailblazer, and the Isuzu i-series pickup trucks are identical to Chevy Colorados. All Isuzu does is take vehicles from GM and slap a couple of funky badges on them.
It's not that Isuzu builds bad vehicles. Isuzus today are better than they've ever been in the history of the company.
The problem is that Isuzu doesn't build any vehicles at all.
You may think that's preposterous because there are still Isuzu stores across America -- indeed, I drove a 2007 Isuzu Ascender this past week -- but in reality, Isuzu dealerships are nothing but a farce. They just sell General Motors vehicles with goofy names.
It wouldn't be so bad if Isuzu started its vehicles with a basic, GM-designed architecture and then customized it to be a true Isuzu. That's precisely what GM does with Saab, Ford does with Volvo, and on down the list.
New Isuzus, though, are nothing but plagiarism on wheels, and that's a remarkably stupid idea coming from what was once such a big, powerful, international company. It's hard to believe that someone, somewhere, thought they could buy a few mediocre but well-known Trailblazers, give them a totally unknown new name, and have the public clamoring to buy one with the Isuzu badge. That makes no sense.
To make matters worse, Isuzu has chosen to compete with The General's big-time advertising strategy that involves dumping mountains of cash on TV stations and newspapers across the country. Isuzu's marketing budget is hardly enough to buy a paperclip and a chewed piece of bubble gum.
In fact, driving that Ascender felt like driving mechanical death because it's so obvious that Isuzu is about to croak. There's no point in hiding it. The company has left life support and is quickly being wheeled to the morgue, where it will unceremoniously be pronounced dead and quickly buried beside Oldsmobile in the Scrap Metal Cemetery.
On a side note, the best part about driving the Ascender was making its CD player blast "Quartet for the End of Time," a piece written for half-broken instruments by a brilliant French composer during his stay in a Nazi prison camp. It was perfectly fitting.
So, if you want to buy a Trailblazer and save some cash, check out the Ascender. You could probably get a great deal on one.
The Isuzu organization may be recognized for its production of high quality diesel engines. This continues to be promoted and used throughout the world. The firm was established in 1937 and holds headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. When the name of the company is translated to English, it implies "fifty warning buzzers".The end of an era! Our brief time with Isuzu began in the 70s when General Motors, desperate for a small car, sold Geminis rebadged as Opels. The Isuzu brand itself eventually did make it stateside, most well-known for its SUVs like the Trooper, Rodeo, Amigo and the bizarre VehiCROSS. Ultimately, as market share decreased, it was relegated to selling rebadged GM trucks.
Isuzu’s most popular – a relative term, to be sure – car was the Impulse, which in later generations was also rebadged as the Geo Storm.
We always thought that if the company had only ventured into US sales earlier, with its pioneering JDM models like the twin-cam Bellet GT-R (pictured above) or the 117 Coupe, it would have fared better.
In memoriam, we have posted some old Isuzu USA ads, starring middling sit-com star David Leisure as your prototypical slimy car salesman, Joe Isuzu.
