History
Isuzu's history begins in 1916, when Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd. plan a cooperation with the Tokyo Gas and Electric Industrial Co. to build automobiles. The next step is taken in 1918, when a technical cooperation with Wolseley Motors Limited is initiated, meaning exclusive rights to the production and sales of Wolseley vehicles in East Asia. In 1922 the first Wolseley model, the A-9 car, is domestically produced. The CP truck follows two years later; 550 of these are built until 1927. In 1933, Ishikawajima Automotive Works merges with DAT Automobile Manufacturing Inc. (a predecessor of Datsun) and changes its name to Automobile Industries Co., Ltd. The products of this company, marketed as "Sumiya" and "Chiyoda", were renamed Isuzu (after the Isuzu River) in 1934, following a meeting with the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI). The word Isuzu translated into English means "fifty bells" - hence the focus on "bell" in both the later Bellel and the Bellett.
In 1937 Automobile Industries is reorganized and formed into a new company, Tokyo Automobile Industries Co., Ltd. It was founded with a capital of one million yen. Only in 1949 is Isuzu also adopted as the company name. Meanwhile, in 1942, Hino Heavy Industries was split off from Isuzu, becoming a separate corporation. Truck production (TX40 and TU60) began anew in 1945, with the permission of the occupation authorities. Beginning in 1953 the Hillman Minx passenger car is produced under license of Rootes Group. The Minx remained in production until 1962, after the 1961 introduction of Isuzu's first own car, the Bellel. Being a small producer making cars which were somewhat too large and pricey for the Japanese market at the time, Isuzu spent some time looking for a commercial partner. Under pressure from MITI, who were attempting to limit the number of automobile manufacturers in Japan, a cooperation with Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) began in 1966. The Subaru 1000 was even shown in Isuzu's 1967 annual vehicle brochure, as a suitable complement to the larger Isuzu lineup. This tie-up was over by 1968, when an agreement with Mitsubishi was formed. This ended even quicker, by 1969, and the next year an equally short-lived collaboration was entered with Nissan. A few months later, in September 1971, what was to prove a more durable capital agreement was signed with General Motors.
Read more about this topic: Isuzu Motors
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“There has never been in history another such culture as the Western civilization M a culture which has practiced the belief that the physical and social environment of man is subject to rational manipulation and that history is subject to the will and action of man; whereas central to the traditional cultures of the rivals of Western civilization, those of Africa and Asia, is a belief that it is environment that dominates man.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“It’s a very delicate surgical operation—to cut out the heart without killing the patient. The history of our country, however, is a very tough old patient, and we’ll do the best we can.”
—Dudley Nichols, U.S. screenwriter. Jean Renoir. Sorel (Philip Merivale)