Monthly Archives: October 2011

A Look Inside Isuzu

The Isuzu brand is one of the least known of the Japanese car brands sold in the North American market. Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Subaru are all well recognized and respected Japanese makes while Isuzu lives perpetually in their shadow and underneath the wings of world auto giant, General Motors. Let’s take a look at Isuzu and what makes this car company tick.

In 1981, Isuzu followed competing Japanese automakers and entered the US, the world’s largest automobile market in terms of annual sales. Getting a late start, Isuzu had some catching up to do as each of its Japanese rivals had already established themselves in the lucrative American market. Indeed, it has always been perceived by automobile experts that if an automaker was going to be successful in the world, then they needed to establish a foothold in the highly competitive U.S. market. Continue reading

The Mitsubishi Colt: Sink or Swim?

The Mitsubishi Colt is yet another hatchback that has found itself lumped in with a myriad of others in the saturated supermini market. This market is very much sink or swim recently and to stay afloat your car has got to have something a little different or special to attract interest. So will the Mitsubishi Colt be riding along on the crest of a wave or sinking irretrievably amidst the gloomy waters of supermini failure?

The first impression is suitably impressive as the exterior ticks boxes you wouldn’t expect it to, as it manages to look solid and chunky yet you can be sure that you will be able to fit it into all but the very tightest of parking spaces. It has a tall roof that means that there will be enough room to comfortably seat at least 4 6-foot+ adults; reassuring news if you were ferrying guests to a medical giant’s convention.

The interior is relatively basic, but looks smart enough and appears to be of a high manufacturing standard and all the plastics are rigid and will stand up to ham-fisted testing. The seating is perhaps a little too firm, which makes long journeys a little undesirable, but as these cars are primarily designed for short city driving, this isn’t too much of a pressing concern. Continue reading