GM and Rock County business
Isuzu shelves plans for U.S. plant
Isuzu Motors is icing plans to build a new manufacturing plant in North America over economic concerns raised by the U.S. home loan crisis, according to an Associated Press report Wednesday.
Isuzu President Susumu Hosoi told Kyodo News agency that the Japanese truck maker is watching to see whether the sub-prime mortgage crisis could have global repercussions. Concerns about the crisis’ impact have led the company to put plans for a North America plant on hold.
In April, Isuzu bought land in Birmingham, Ala., for future business activities in North America, including possibly setting up a vehicle assembly plant there. It has not been clear if the plant under discussion had been slated for the Birmingham property.
Isuzu’s truck sales in North America grew about 10 percent to 27,000 units in 2006, and the company had said it hoped to grow that number to 50,000 units.
Nearly all of Isuzu’s vehicles sold in the United States are imported from Japan. In the United States, Isuzu builds fewer than 5,000 trucks a year at the General Motors plant in Janesville.
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