Isuzu Philippines Defers Plan to Sell Vehicles to Central America
Isuzu Philippines Corp. is deferring plans to export locally-assembled vehicles to Central America pending the resolution of pricing issues, outgoing company president Keiji Takeda told reporters Monday night.
“We tried but the stumbling block was that the price requirement from them and our cost does not match. So that was the biggest barrier, the biggest hurdle,” Takeda said at the sidelines of the turnover ceremony of the company’s leadership. “We will continue our effort to minimize the gap but it is too big for them to get the big order.” Ryoji Yamazaki is taking over the presidency of Isuzu.
Takeda in February said the company was looking at the Central American market for its vehicles, including the Crosswind and possibly the recently-launched Microbus. “I’ve been telling my people to study the possibility of [the inclusion of] a Microbus but that is just a very, very initial idea,” he said, adding that he himself did not know if there would be a market for Microbus.
“But I think that like in the Philippine market, I also believe that we will have a strong potential to export to Central America. Another difficulty is that… from the Philippines to Central America, [it would be a] very, very long way,” he said.
He said the size of Microbus could present logistic problems “so we are still studying about it.”
Takeda said the company had not received orders yet for the Microbus in the local market. Isuzu is set to launch the Microbus by the end of the year yet and may adjust its initial P1.3-million price tag.
Related posts:
