Isuzu Motors Ltd.

In 1910 the shipbuilding company Ishikawajima was founded in Tokyo; six years later it decided to cooperate with the Tokyo Gas and Electric Company to build cars. The first A9 cars, built under licence from Wolseley, were completed in 1922, and two years later the first trucks also left the plant. In 1933 Ishikawajima merged with another carmaker, Dot, and the company was named Automobile Industries Co. Ltd. A year later the current brand name was adopted after the Isuzu river; it became the company's official name in 1949. In 1953 a cooperation agreement was signed with Rootes, and production of the English Hillman Minx car began; a similar agreement with General Motors followed in 1971. The company also entered the US market with both cars and vans. In the 1990s car production was abandoned, and in 1999 GM increased its stake in the company to 49 percent. GM has since given up its stake, however. The company builds off-road vehicles, pickups, trucks and diesel engines, with plants in Japan, the USA and South-East Asia.