When the fruity people at Del Monte closed their Pinson Valley distribution center in Alabama, they were left with 300k square-feet worth of warehouse space and a lot of unsold canned pears. Being in the market for a manufacturing center, Isuzu decided to pick up the facility with the intention of investing several million bucks to turn the warehouse into their newest North American commercial truck plant.
Over the next few years, 1,000 workers will be putting together medium- and full-size trucks using parts from outside sources. Isuzu hasn't set a date for the retrofitting or production to begin.
One interesting tidbit from the article in al.com, was that Isuzu may decide to build a smaller commercial truck for the U.S. market and has plans to introduce a four-ton truck into its lineup in 2009.
Thanks for the tip, Mike!
[Source: ai.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Barney @ Jan 9th 2007 5:11PM
They were sold by GMC as the "W" series and I imagine now are trying to create a home base in the US. Hino dropped the COE for North America and International is now again building them. The choice is again back to two. Anyone know if Ford or Kenworth/Peterbuilt still making a cabover?
Erik @ Jan 11th 2007 12:23PM
Good for Isuzu. I always like to see a company retrofitting an existing, vacant structure or space rather than clearing a forest to build a ginormous brand new factory while hundreds of existing factories lie vacant and unused. Maybe not the easiest, maybe not the least expensive, but certainly the most responsible option. Who knows, maybe they will even be able to employ some of those displaced Del Monte workers. Bravo Isuzu.
Esprit bird @ Mar 14th 2007 5:16PM
I want an Isuzu amigo!