Isuzu plans 60 dealerships across India by 2016

Isuzu today announced that it will open five new dealerships in North India with the first one coming up in New Delhi today. The NCR region will be well represented by March 2015 as Gurgaon and Noida will also get new dealerships. One dealership each will come up in Jaipur and Punjab. At the announcement, Isuzu also displayed its D-Max pickup truck range and revealed it’s NCR prices. The D-Max single cab is priced at Rs 5.89 lakh. The D-Max Space Cab with a flat deck costs Rs 6.09 lakh and the Space Cab with arched deck costs Rs 6.99 lakh. All prices are ex-showroom, NCR. Isuzu is looking at 100 percent localization levels in the D-Max to keep its prices competitive.

Commenting on the company’s first dealership in North India, Isuzu India MD Takashi Kukuchi said, “North India is an important market for us, contributing to approximately 30 percent of the total pick up sales in the Country. With the pick-ups we are optimistic of establishing a strong foothold in the Indian pickup truck market.”

Isuzu plans to have a total of 60 dealerships by 2016. Since the company is building a 1.2 lakh per annum capacity plant, a wide network across the country is necessary, especially in tier 2 and 3 cities where such vehicles will be used for small businesses. You can only drive a D-Max with a commercial vehicle license though. This might limit its appeal and it will be interesting to see if Isuzu begins selling it for private individual use in the future.

The D-Max has a 2.5-litre 4-cylinder turbo-diesel engine mated to a 5-speed transmission. The engine develops 136PS of power at 3,600rpm and 294Nm of torque between 1,800-3,200rpm and has a payload capacity of 1.2 tonnes. This engine is shared across the D-Max range. The Space Cab with the arched deck being the most premium of the lot gets body coloured bumpers, tilt-able power steering, air conditioning and central locking. The D-Max will be available in three colours white, blue and silver. From the beginning, Isuzu is offering the D-Max with a 3-year/1 lakh km warranty.