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Moving N Series Forward

moving N Series forward

You don’t get to be such a dominant player in the truck market as Isuzu are without always progressing the product, it’s a process which never stops and this year the priority is moving N Series forward into a market with many changes on the horizon. 

The last few years have seen the safety systems on trucks move from being an expensive luxury item on heavy duty trucks to a fitted necessity on all trucks, large or small. An arms race has developed between all of the major players to see who can include the highest number of three or four letter abbreviations in the specifications of new trucks.

Many of the brands leading this charge, to include everything from adaptive cruise control to lane keeping are within large global truck making conglomerates like, Daimler, Volvo, Paccar or Traton, and Isuzu’s closest competitor, Hino, is part of the Toyota empire.

moving N Series forward

The situation for Isuzu, now led by newly arrived Takeo Shindo, Isuzu Managing Director and CEO, is not quite the same, it does not have access to the massive research and development dollars which are being ploughed into tech development and then distributed across a number of different brands globally. Instead, Isuzu has to be smart, leveraging the relationships it does have around the world to get access to the latest technology and integrate it into the trucks it is manufacturing.

This not to underestimate the strength of Isuzu, the global corporation does have considerable scale and some powerful allies and many long term relationships across the truck making industry. The company has been able to move swiftly over the past twenty years keeping ahead of the technology curve, and we can expect it to hold its own in, what looks like, a very fast moving technology leap in the next decade or so.

moving N Series forward

There are global projects in which Isuzu is involved, the collaboration with Honda to develop a fuel cell power unit for heavy duty trucks being one example. The deal with Volvo, in which Isuzu purchased UD Trucks, should also give Isuzu access to some of the latest electronic architecture developments. There is also a joint development project involving Isuzu, Toyota and Hino, although details are thin on the ground, as yet.

Another consequence of this development issue for Isuzu is the decision to discontinue sales of the Giga model in Australia without a replacement available straight away. Clearly, the current Giga does look dated, when compared to its direct rivals from the other three Japanese truck makers. There is a replacement in the wings, according to Takeo Shindo, but as to when it will arrive, there is no definite date set, as yet.

These times of change have caused Isuzu to beef up its strategy team, under the leadership of Grant Cooper, Chief of Strategy, to ensure the brand retains its progress to meet future demands from truck customers. Isuzu has appointed a new Innovation Manager, Alex Morris, and created a Business Intelligence Unit. 

moving N Series forward

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