Japan's Isuzu, China's Shanghai Auto To Set Up JV

WASHINGTON -November 8, 2002; Dow Jones is reporting that Japan's Isuzu Motors Ltd. and China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp. agreed in principle to set up a joint-venture company in China next year for manufacturing big trucks, the major daily Mainichi Shimbun reported on its Web site Friday.

Isuzu and Shanghai Automotive plan to start with annual production of about 10,000 trucks by using Shanghai's existing production facilities. General Motors Corp. , the biggest share holder of Isuzu, is also considering joining this joint-venture, the report said.

The joint-venture is part of the survival strategy of Isuzu, whose group earnings posted a third-straight year of losses in the last fiscal year ended March, the report said. Isuzu aims to make businesses in the fast-growing Chinese market as a springboard for its recovery, the report added.

Isuzu already has two joint-venture companies with China's medium-sized truck makers, producing 40,000 trucks there. It aims to increase the annual production in China to 70,000 by 2005, the report said.