Isuzu Reports Earnings Decline

The Japanese truck maker Isuzu has reported a drop in nine-month profits of 16 percent to December from a year earlier. Mini-vehicle manufacturer Suzuki grew its earnings as the two General Motors affiliates continued to experience mixed operations.
Isuzu Motors completed a restructuring drive that returned it to profit, but was impacted by the cost of a growth push launched after their rebuilding efforts. GM owns about eight percent of Isuzu and made a net profit of 42.8 billion yen ($365.4 million) by the nine month mark.
Isuzu has spent heavily in Thailand to protect the leading position of its D-Max pickup truck from Toyota, their main competitor. Despite slow results, Isuzu kept its forecasts for the year to March, with net profit of 55 billion yen and pretax profit at 90 billion yen on sales of 1.58 trillion yen.
Japan’s top mini-vehicle maker Suzuki had a net profit rise for the period of 6.8 percent to 47.9 billion yen. Suzuki reported net profits of 30.9 billion yen in the first half of the year, due to the popularity of their vehicles and cost-cutting efforts.