Call it the classic long goodbye. Isuzu has announced it will call a halt to North American SUV sales in January 2009, but the news shouldn’t come as too much of a shock to anyone who’s been watching Isuzu of late.
Fact is, Isuzu’s fortunes have been on the wane for some while now as its long-term tie-up with General Motors has slowly unraveled and it’s been forced to rely on rebadged GM vehicles to keep sales alive.
It’s a sad finale for a Japanese company that once built a whole batch of cool-looking enthusiast cars, such as the early '80s Impulse coupe and later I-Mark and Stylus sedans. A company that turned its hand to some very well received show cars, the 1989 4200R, the 1993 VehiCROSS and 2001 GBX, to name but three. A company that later forged a successful business building SUVs such as the Trooper, Rodeo and Axiom until the economics of a harsh business environment dictated otherwise.