Isuzu 2008 Annual Report Download - page 14

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Interview with the Management n Isuzu Motors Limited Annual Report 2008
1. Interview with
Goro Shintani
Executive Vice President
(Senior Division Executive,
International Sales Headquaters)
Q1: Shipments to resource-producing countries and devel-
oping countries remain robust. What is the outlook for key
geographic regions?
A1: The economies of resource-producing countries continue to
grow thanks to surging prices for natural resources worldwide.
Against that backdrop, Isuzu is expanding sales in the Middle East,
Africa, South and Central America, Oceania, Russia and Ukraine.
We continue to build a solid brand in South and Central America
and Africa, where we have a long history of collaboration with
General Motors. Our quality has become well known in the Russian
and Ukrainian markets thanks to the ELF. We will be working to
achieve our Mid-term Business Plan target for overseas commercial
vehicle (CV) sales of 350,000 units by increasing sales in these re-
gions, while expanding our product line to include not only the ELF,
but also medium- and heavy-duty trucks.
Q2: What is the outlook for Isuzu’s Thailand business, and
how do you plan to develop the LCV business going forward?
A2: Our Thailand business continues to enjoy steady growth.
Although growth in the Thailand domestic market stalled slightly in
2006, it has been staging a gradual recovery since the second half
of 2007. We continue to enjoy strong sales as the leading brand in
the pickup truck segment, which accounts for approximately 60%
of all automobile sales in the country. Looking at our exports from
Thailand, our business has been expanding at an annual rate in ex-
cess of 10% since we moved production from Japan to Thailand in
2004, and we will be working to meet our Mid-term Business Plan
target for light commercial vehicle sales of 420,000 units by ex-
panding sales just as we are doing in trucks, primarily in resource-
producing and developing countries.
Q3: What market conditions are Isuzu’s businesses in
North America and China experiencing?
A3: Although no recovery in demand in the North American
market can be expected given the current economic environment
in the U.S., Isuzu continues to maintain its high market share. Over
the medium- and long-term, we are confident that a U.S. economic
recovery will push demand back to its original levels. For the time
being, we are increasing the efficiency of our operations through
careful cost management of local operations, including measures
such as inventory reduction.
In China, we will introduce the new ELF wide-cabin type this fis-
cal year. Although the market environment has not yet developed
sufficiently such that we can grow sales of our high-quality, high-
performance, environment-friendly new products as quickly as we
would prefer, we believe that the emergence and rapid growth of a
high-end market is inevitable in time due to the continued growth
of the Chinese economy, the development of more sophisticated
market needs, and the introduction of more stringent environmen-
tal regulations. Over the next several years, we will be focusing
on steadily strengthening our sales capabilities and enhancing our
parts and service offerings in anticipation of that coming expansion.
N e x t g e n e r a t i o n i n n o v a t i o n