As final preparations are being made to introduce the new Chevy Colorado and GMC Canyon in the U.S. next year — vehicles originally designed through a joint-partnership between Isuzu Motors Limited and GM — both Isuzu and GM have now entered into another "memorandum of understanding" to discuss another pickup truck product.
According to Automotive News and a brief statement released by Isuzu, both automakers have decided to work together again to develop and produce another hard-working pickup product. Exact details about what type of vehicle or what markets the eventual product would be sold in have yet to be determined and announced. All we know at this point is that they've agreed to start discussing the possibility.
What type of vehicle is anyone's guess, but with Isuzu's success with larger cab-forward commercial vehicles and the hole GM has in the growing Class 4 and 5 commercial-duty segments since they walked away from medium-dutys several years ago (the Chevy Kodiak with a Monroe conversion is pictured above).
Both Ford and Ram Truck are filling that segment nicely and we'd guess there's a good shot that the new GM/Isuzu pickup could fill that void for GM and provide a good entry point for Isuzu to further expand in the commercial-truck arena. Partnering in the emerging medium-duty truck segment could be a smart way of defraying some of the risk and cost for both manufacturers.
The relationship between the two companies goes all the way back to 1971, with several successes like the Duramax turbodiesel engines under their belts; however, both parties decided to dissolve their financial ties in 2006. Beyond this co-development project, there is no word on whether either is interested in further corporate investments.
