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Junkyard Gem: 2004 Isuzu Axiom

Though the final Isuzu-badged car sold in the United States was the 1993 Isuzu Stylus, Isuzu did very well selling trucks here during the remainder of the 1990s. Things still looked pretty good for Isuzu as the new century dawned, but by then everybody had upped their truck game and many of the competition's offerings made Isuzus seem old-fashioned. Isuzu cooked up a distinctive new body for the Rodeo chassis, arranged to have it built at Subaru's plant in Indiana, and called it the Axiom. You won't see many Axioms today, but I found this last-year-of-production example in an Oklahoma City car graveyard recently. As we all know, the decline and fall of Isuzu in North America accelerated quickly as the 2000s progressed. The VehiCROSS was interesting but just too weird and it got the axe after 2001. The increasingly antiquated Trooper held on through 2002, the Amigo (aka Rodeo Sport) through 2003, and that left just the Axiom and Rodeo to hang on by their fingernails into 2004. By 2005, the only new Isuzu-branded passenger vehicles sold in the United States were two rebadged Chevrolets: the Ascender (Trailblazer) and i-Series pickup (Colorado). In early 2009, Isuzu announced that it would be departing, presumably forever. You can still buy new Isuzu commercial trucks here, of course. The 2004 Axiom had MSRPs starting at $24,849 for the S trim level with rear-wheel-drive and going up to $30,499 for the upscale XS with all-wheel-drive. That's about $40,703 and $49,958 in 2023 dollars. Joe Isuzu was brought back after a decade of retirement to pitch the Axiom. Note that Joe's brag in this commercial is how much cheaper the Axiom was than the Volvo Cross Country. This truck is the cheap Axiom S 4x2, which still seems well-appointed. The 2004 Axiom's 3.5-liter V6 engine made 250 horsepower and 246 pound-feet, up from 230 horsepower and 230 pound-feet in the 2002-2003 Axioms. The power improvements were the result of the switch to gasoline direct injection fuel delivery for the '04 Axiom. Isuzu was so proud of the system that it applied these badges. The only transmission available was a four-speed automatic. The Axiom was introduced to the American public as the SPYMobile in the 2001 film "Spy Kids." The body and interior of this one appear to be nice enough for a 19-year-old vehicle, so we can assume that it showed up in this place as the result of expensive mechanical problems. We'll get to the Joe Isuzu ads in a moment.

Junkyard Gem: 1984 Isuzu P'up

General Motors, wishing to sell a small pickup to compete with the likes of the Toyota Hilux and Nissan 521, began importing the Isuzu Faster for the 1972 model year, equipping it with Chevrolet LUV badges. Ford brought over the Mazda Proceed as the Courier the same year, while Chrysler turned to Mitsubishi to provide the Plymouth Arrow Truck and Dodge Ram 50 a bit later on. Once GM introduced the all-Detroit S-10 for the 1982 model year, however, the LUV's reign ended. Fortunately for fans of the Light Utility Vehicle, Isuzu began selling these trucks under its own badging here in 1981. This truck was called the P'up, and sales continued through 1987. Here's one of those P'ups, found in a Denver boneyard last month. This truck has the long-bed option. The purple paint and black stripes appear to be non-factory items, as the engine-compartment paint is silver. Under the hood, we see the 1.9-liter G200Z engine, as used in the Impulse and early Trooper. It had 86 horsepower on tap, which made this truck quite a bit zippier than the version with the 58-horse diesel (several decades back, I had a job that involved driving a diesel P'up and I can state from experience that the oil-burning P'up was an agonizingly slow machine). Still, this truck must have been on the poky side, what with its (optional) three-speed automatic transmission. What's this— air conditioning in a compact pickup? That was still something of a blasphemous idea in the middle 1980s. Someone installed a functional cold-air induction system involving an aftermarket air cleaner protruding from the hood, above the carburetor. Let's hope there was a filter element in here, because it doesn't do a carb any good to suck in bugs and dirt (not to mention filling with water while parked outdoors during rainstorms). This is by far the most common sticker found on vehicles in Denver-area wrecking yards. The Incredibles Empire appears to get mightier with each passing day, though I see plenty of stickers from other cannabis-related businesses in these yards. Fox Street Wellness is still around, though under a new name. What better vehicle for picking up a bag of Girl Scout Cookies weed ("best reserved for experienced cannabis consumers") than a purple P'up with hood-mounted air cleaner? Today, the Purple P'up's final parking spot is just a few miles to the north of this dispensary.

Japan may aid carmakers facing U.S. tariff threat

TOKYO — Japan is considering giving carmakers fiscal support including tax breaks to offset the impact from trade frictions with the United States and a sales-tax hike planned for next year, government sources told Reuters on Wednesday. Going into a second round of trade talks with the United States on Sept. 21, Japan is hoping to avert steep tariffs on its car exports and fend off U.S. demands for a bilateral free trade agreement that could put it under pressure to open politically sensitive markets, like agriculture. "If the trade talks pile pressure on Japan's car exports, we would need to consider measures to support the auto industry," a ruling party official said on condition of anonymity because of sensitivity of the matter. The auto industry accounts for about 20 percent of Japan's overall output and around 60-70 percent of the country's trade surplus with the United States, making it vulnerable to U.S. action against Japanese exports. Japan's biggest automakers and components suppliers fear they could take a significant hit if Washington follows through on proposals to hike tariffs on autos and auto parts to 25 percent. Policymakers also worry that an increase in the sales tax from 8 percent to 10 percent planned for October 2019, could cause a slump in sales of big-ticket items such as cars and home. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has twice postponed the tax hike after the last increase from 5 percent in 2014 dealt a blow to private consumption, which accounts for about 60 percent of the economy. To prevent a pullback in demand after the tax hike, the government may consider large fiscal spending later when it draws up its budget for next year, government sources said. "One option may be to greatly reduce or abolish the automobile purchase tax," one of the government sources said. The government is also considering cuts in the automobile tax and automobile weight tax to help car buyers, the source added. Reporting by Izumi Nakagawa and Tetsushi KajimotoRelated Video: Image Credit: Getty Government/Legal Isuzu Mazda Mitsubishi Nissan Subaru Suzuki Toyota Trump Trump tariffs trade