The Isuzu Trooper and Daihatsu Fourtrak used to be popular buys in this part of the world for people who needed proper working 4x4s. Many farmers and horsey types saw them as alternatives to Discoverys and swb Defenders for towing and there are plenty still around in either station wagon or van guise.
Izuzu now sell the Rodeo pick up and Daihatsu have the Terios mini SUV, but neither company has come up with a directly replacement.
Given the ongoing popularity of 4x4s, I am curious why Isuzu and Daihatsu have never launched replacements. Can anyone shed any light on this?
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Isuzu made a decision and announcement a few years back that they would cease building Euro-sized SUVs to concentrate on building US-sized SUVs, trucks as well as diesel engines for GM vehicles.
GM are part-owners of Isuzu, maybe this was part of a global stategy that sees GM-owned Daewoo building SUVs under the Chevrolet, Opel and Vauxhall brands
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GM are part-owners of Isuzu maybe this was part of a global stategy that sees GM-owned Daewoo building SUVs under the Chevrolet Opel and Vauxhall brands
Well they lost out in this part of the world. All the farmer-types around here now drive Kia Sorentos.
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Thats a another company with a GM involvement.
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Really?
Hyundai own Kia not GM. Thats why there is a lot of cross over betwen the Kia and Hyundai models. Hyundai Tuscon = Kia Sportage. Hyundai Trajet has much parts sharing with Kia Sedona (new model). etc etc
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I did not say that GM owned Kia only they are stake holders supplying many parts including the design for the old Sedona and in America there is a lot of cross working.Like GM's connection with Suzuki making there cars in Canada at the old camaro plant.
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Is that true?
Seems strange that Kia would be taking parts from GM -- at the time they designed the Sedona (shortly before the Hyundai takeover) they tied in closely with Ford -- indeed the only reason Ford didn't buy Kia was that the Korean banks vetoed the deal and forced Hyundai's hand.
Since the takeover Hyundai has been allied to Mitsubishi/Chrysler, and are the main competitors to Daewoo, which is GM.
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Daihatsu is owned/controlled by Toyota and a strategic decision was made a good few years ago that Daihatsu would concentrate on small city cars that sit below the Toyota model ranged. The UK importer (Inchcape at the time) managed to keep Fourtrak production gong for a few more years by committing to buy significant numbers of Fourtraks.
As the choice of 4x4s on the UK market grew, the Fourtrak (which had no development) became less competitive in spite of Inchcape's efforts to sex the model up with mods fitted at the UK port of entry.
Daihatsu's strategy change screwed up the importer because all its UK dealerships were in rural areas. The brand lost its way and was sold to International Motors.
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