ISUZU HISTORY: 1995

It had been 13 years since Isuzu Trucks began selling product in Australia, and just six years since I-GM, the official Australian subsidiary, had launched. When the Dandenong assembly line closed in December 1995, subsequent F Series models were fully-imported from Japan. The decision meant a streamlining of processes and saw company profits remain positive, as local production costs reduced.

An Isuzu FSR 500

In other financial news, the scheduled buy-back of $3 million Redeemable Preference Shares enhanced the broader public perception of the brand as both a manufacturer of reliable vehicles and a thriving business. In 1995, with an Australian population of just over 18 million, there were more than 45,000 registered Isuzu trucks in operation on local roads – moving food, supplies and equipment to service the needs of an increasingly prosperous nation bouncing back from the challenges of “the recession we had to have”. The impressive number of Isuzu trucks on Australian roads represented a 7,000-strong increase in the local Isuzu vehicle population between 1991 and 1995 - the greatest growth recorded by any truck brand in that time.

NPRs on the road

In this year

Tragically, in the Isuzu brand’s birthplace of Japan, 5,092 people were killed when a devastating earthquake rocked Kobe. By 1995, Isuzu’s Australian range had been strategically refined to a list of 32 choices of models that were designed to meet the needs of everyone from large operators to ambitious owner drivers - including the NPR, NKR, FVZ, FVR, FVM, FTS, FTR, FSS & FSR models.