Growing up as a fan of all things American Motors, I owned a Gremlin and Pacer, so I can appreciate quirky cars, which is why this find, a 2001 Isuzu VehiCROSS, caught my eye at the Dallas Car & Toy Museum.
I’m betting that many of you never saw one of these, much less remember the Isuzu brand, but it was a pioneer, bringing SUVs to America at the perfect time. The Rodeo, a top-selling mid-size SUV import, sold 45,257 units in 1992 and 48,903 units in 1993. The brand showed perpetual growth throughout the ’90s. For nearly three decades, Isuzu had a reputation for affordable, dependable vehicles and sold 127,630 cars and trucks in 1986, its biggest year. If the automaker had sold that many vehicles in the U.S., they would have outsold Audi, Hummer, Infiniti, Land Rover, Porsche, Saab, to name a few.
If you don’t remember the brand, you might remember their ad campaign with a fictional character, Joe Isuzu. Created by the ad agency Della Femina, Travisano & Partners in 1986, running in the US until 1990 and then again from 1999 to 200. Ads both in print and broadcast featured actor David Leisure making absurd claims, like cars costing $10.80 or getting 300 miles per gallon.Included on-screen text disclaimers that straight-up stated: “He’s lying”. It worked, boosting Isuzu brand awareness and a major spike in vehicle sales. It also seemed to tick off real-life car salespeople who felt the satire hit too close to home.
Ah, but all good things must come to an end, right? 21 years later, in 2007, Isuzu only managed to sell 11,300 vehicles, down from 103,937 sold in 1999. Only 7,000 were passenger vehicles, according to Ward’s Automotive Reports, including 4,000 pickup trucks and 3,000 Ascender units. So what happened? At the time Isuzu made the decision to withdraw from the U.S. Market in January 2009, their partner of many years, General Motors, was heading for bankruptcy. They’d decided to discontinue producing the Ascender SUV, which was based on Chevy’s Trailblazer, and its small pickup truck platform.
Let’s get back to this week’s spot: a 2001 VehiCROSS. Produced by Isuzu from 1997 to 2001. It was first introduced as a concept car at the 1993 Tokyo Motor Show and was later put into production in 1997. Priced at around 30 grand, the VehiCROSS was designed to be a high-performance off-road vehicle with a unique and futuristic design. You got that right. I kind of like it in a weird kind of way.
The automotive press was not kind to it. They liked it for its off-road capabilities but not so much on pavement. They said that visibility to the back and over both shoulders was absolutely horrible, and you just have to take a leap of faith and hope no one is in your way. At speeds above 66 mph, the roof rack howls like the Hounds of Hell. Same with the 2017 Jeep Compass we owned. The Isuzu’s very nice CD audio system is capable of drowning out some of the noise, but they found it best to treat the howl as a passive speed control system. Its 18-inch off-road tires were nice for crossing mud bogs, but their springy nature didn’t inspire confidence should any emergency-avoidance maneuvers be needed when traveling down the Interstate. There were some bright spots: a ballsy 215-horsepower V6 engine, neat remote-reservoir shock absorbers, comfy leather Recaro seats, grippy Torque-On-Demand 4WD traction system, very tight turning radius, four-wheel vented disc brakes, 10-year/120,000-mile powertrain warranty, and head-turning looks. But that wasn’t enough to move the needle in sales, with total worldwide production of only 5,958 units between 1997 and 2001, making this Isuzu VehiCross exceptionally rare.
If you can find one and would want one, expect to pay somewhere between around $5,000 and just under 20 grand. Might be a fun vehicle if you were to just go off-roading and would certainly attract attention at a local Cars & Coffee.
Thanks for stopping by and checking out this week’s find. Come back next Sunday for another one of my spots along with some of its history. Like, Comment, Share with post because we’d love to hear from you. Have a great week.
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