bellett.net

Ok, so it's not really a 'passenger car', but Isuzu's D-Max is the first non-truck that Isuzu has sold since... well, it's a long story.

We all know about the Isuzu Bellett and the Florian that was sold in Australia for a brief but shining time between 1964ish and 1970ish.

In the early 1970s when GM took over Isuzu, plans were under way for an Isuzu Wasp replacement based on the Isuzu Florian.

Eventually released across most of the world as the Chevrolet LUV, the LUV was every bit a Florian as the Wasp was a Bellett - not very, but the profile was there.

The Chevrolet LUV was sold in Australia through Holden dealerships and seeing that the Aussie-assembled, RHD Impalas had been discontinued in around 1968 with the introduction of the Holden Brougham luxury car, it stands to reason that the Chevrolet LUV was probably the last Chevrolet-badged car sold in Australia.

When the Chevy LUV was upgraded from oval to round instrumentation and most crucially, the Holden/Isuzu Gemini G161Z OHC engine, it was still sold through Holden dealers, but this time as an Isuzu KB (stay tuned in our brochure section for a couple of brochures featuring the Isuzu KB and derivatives; yes I know this is a Bellett forum but one must pay respect to the Isuzus... coz they are cool).

In 1982, the Florian-based Isuzu KB was replaced with the mechanically-similar but individually styled Holden Rodeo. Still built by Isuzu in Japan, it gained a reputation for being a tough ute and was always viewed favourably, even when compared with stonking industry leader, the Toyota Hilux.

After a around four different restyles and many different engines from the Isuzu G-series and Isuzu 4Z-series, plus a few diesels and V6s, the Holden Rodeo (now powered by Holden's unloved Alloytec 3.6 litre V6, plus Isuzu diesel options) was recently re-branded as the Holden Colorado. Why?

Isuzu own the name Rodeo and following their sale by GM and subsequent purchase by Toyota, declined to allow Holden to continue using the Rodeo name. In line with Holden's complete inablility to come up with a decent vehicle name since 1971's "Statesman", the name "Colorado" was decided upon and with a mild facelift of the existing Rodeo model, the Colorado was born. Tough as a new name, according to the advertisements.

Well tough DOES have a new name; and that name... is D-MAX. Isuzu D-MAX.

Isuzu have re-entered the passenger car (or more correctly, non-truck) market with their own version of the facelifted Holden Rodeo and they too have dropped the Rodeo name to apparently line the name up more closely with their truck range.

With the popularity of the modern Japanese pick-up truck being not only for work but for play, it must be said that I'm sure the D-MAX would be a comfortable utility compared with the work trucks of old, so this is why I'm heralding it as a return of the Isuzu passenger car. Sure, it's not a small, twin-cam, rear-wheel drive coupe, but tell me which Japanese manufacturers builds one of those anymore...

So decisions, decisions. Does the tradesman who is replacing his Rodeo ute buy a Holden Colorado or an Isuzu D-MAX. Sure, neither of them say 'Rodeo', but the general DNA is traceable, right back to the Isuzu Wasp of 1965... and I say that the Colorado is a stupid name and I'd pick the Isuzu... to D-MAX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carsguide story here:

http://carsguide.news.com.au/site/motor ... uscles_in/

Interesting turn of events. I didnt realise Toyota owned isuzu now either. Colarado is a lame name. Whats Aussie about that? What a short sighted move from GM to sell the intellectual property rights to a name they are using! Surely its not that hard to see that transferring the name to GM before selling isuzu would have been the way to go! I bet someone got kicked over that.

You filled in some blanks about the LUV. Now I understand how it relates to the Wasp.

There are some terminology differences between Australia and the US. In the US, sedans, hatchbacks, and other vehicles built for the road and to carry people is a car. If it has a bed (pickup) or knobby tires like an SUV, it's a truck. And commercial delivery vehicles are also trucks. It gets confusing when SUV owners call their vehicles cars.

Isuzu's latest pickup is not sold in the US. Instead, before parting with GM, GM created another world car, took the body design of the D-Max pickup, put their own engine and transmission into it, build everything in North America, and call it the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon. The US Isuzu PR rep explained that Isuzu was put in charge of designing all the GM pickups, so the Trailblazer, Suburban, Envoy, Yukon, Silverado, Sierra, etc., all got made over with this same styling. In exchange, Isuzu got to rebadge the Colorado pickup as an Isuzu "i" pickup, and the Suburban as an Ascender. So in the US, Isuzu sold the GM made version of a pickup truck that is a copy of their own D-Max pickup. "Sold", because no one can sell pickup trucks now, everyone is buying hybrids and small cars, which Isuzu no longer makes anywhere. also, GM has announced they are discontinuing both the Suburban and Colorado in this country, because not even they can sell pickups any more.

"Colorado" is the name of a US state. Denver is it's capitol. It has part of the Rocky Mountain range running through it. The tough part is supposed to evoke a reference to the rugged landscape.

Hopefully this explains a little about why GM Australia came to use the Colorado name for their vehicle. Is it conspicuously similar to the Isuzu D-Max that has been introduced into Australia? Rumor-pedia says that the Holden Rodeo and Holden Colorado are built by Isuzu in Thailand. If this is true, it's nice to see Isuzu turn the tables back around on GM.

I remember the loud complaints when Isuzu discontinued the SUVs in Australia, nice to see them move back into the market. Now that they are out from under GM's thumb, maybe they can move back into more markets.

But if pickups continue to be a dying breed, someone at Isuzu might want to think about designing something without a bed.

Ahhh, it makes sense now why the Colorado is named the Colorado and also why it's just looks like a rebadged Rodeo.... Simple things like not being able to use a name can have a big impact on a cars future. It will be interesting to see if the D-Max can out sell the Colorado. I doubt it but it's a nice thought.

As you said JT161, SUV/pickups are dying out, now would be a perfect time for Isuzu to re-enter the market with a small car, maybe a rear wheel drive, with a perky 2 litre engine, maybe with an old name plate from the '60's... We can only dream

The Colorado name probably evokes a sense of toughness in the USA, but here it is more aligned with a brand of shoe and lifestyle clothing.

Ford hit on the perfect name plate for their locally-designed and built SUV, the Ford Territory. While the international members of our forum probably don't think of toughness when the word "territory" is bandied about, the Australian territory called "Northern Territory" is one of the toughest places on Earth with millions of acres of desert and rainforest (but mainly desert!). Whether the SUV Ford Territory would be tough enough to actually survive the Northern Territory is a completely different issue.

Holden had an exceptionally Australian name in the Holden Jackaroo, which was the local branding of the Isuzu Trooper. For our international members, a jackaroo is the name given to a male (females are jillaroos, believe it or not) who works on a farm or outback sheep station mustering sheep or cattle for a living. Normally mounted on a horse or motorbike, the job of a jackaroo is exceptionally tough - and therefore the name Jackaroo evokes a feeling of toughness in the Australian psyche. The advertising slogan for Holden's first SUV, "There's nothing you can't do, in a Holden Jackaroo" probably helped!

Further to this, one of the last model Jackaroos (early 2000's model - can't give you the exact model number) had a specification level called the Jackaroo Nullarbor. The name 'Nullarbor' refers to the Nullabor Desert that sits over the Great Australian Bight and again evokes feelings of strength and toughness in the Australian psyche, even though the name itself is from the Latin "Null Arbor" meaning "No Trees"!

So what Holden needed was a name that was something along the lines of the Jackaroo (which they couldn't use as it referred to their old SUV), Territory (which Ford own) or Nullarbour (which I think could have been re-hashed for the Rodeo replacment - not many Jackaroo Nullarbours were actually sold).

Like I said, Aussies are well aware of the nature of Colorado - rocky and tough... but because it's a Yank name and is a brand of shoe, I reckon more people will think "shoes"! That's my theory anyway!