| Isuzu Motors Ltd. has mothballed its plan to build | | | | move forward with all projects big and small." |
| light commercial truck plant which was reported | | | | Gov. Bob Riley met with Isuzu leaders on a trip to |
| to be destined for Pinson. | | | | Japan in October, and said that the talks were |
| Isuzu President Susumu Hosoi told Kyodo News | | | | "enthusiastic" and "very positive." |
| agency Wednesday that the company is worried | | | | Isuzu's truck sales in North America increased |
| the subprime mortgage crisis will hurt the U.S. | | | | about ten percent to 27,000 in 2006, and the |
| economy, and that the concerns are serious | | | | automaker said its goal was 50,000. Nearly all of |
| enough to put the company's plans for a North | | | | Tokyo-based Isuzu's vehicles sold in the U.S are |
| American plant on hold. | | | | imported from Japan. |
| "Our projections for the U.S. market down the | | | | The plant has been the subject of much |
| road are not very good, and we can't see | | | | discussion. In September, Automotive News |
| sufficient volume" of sales coming from there, | | | | reported Isuzu has delayed breaking ground on |
| said Hosoi. | | | | the Pinson plant because it was considering a site |
| Last year, the automaker purchased a | | | | in Mexico. In April, Nikkei, a Japanese newspaper |
| 300,000-square-foot warehouse on Pinson Valley | | | | reported Isuzu planned to build in Pinson and |
| Parkway for $8 million. Individuals familiar with the | | | | produce 5,000 trucks a year. |
| state and local efforts to recruit Isuzu said that | | | | The maker of Isuzu radiator already makes |
| the company planned to build light commercial | | | | commercial trucks in Japan. The trucks are |
| trucks and employ as many as 1,000 people at | | | | equipped with a low cab and boxy cargo area |
| the site, The Birmingham News reported. | | | | usually used by contractors, delivery services and |
| It is too early to give up on the project, though, | | | | plumbers. Isuzu also operates a commercial truck |
| said Metropolitan Development Board President | | | | assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., in partnership |
| Ted von Cannon. Von Cannon, the head of the | | | | with General Motors Corp. |
| partnership that recruits new businesses to the | | | | In the automotive industry, the buzzword is |
| area, said last Wednesday that projects are | | | | expansion. Expansion is not limited to enhancing |
| sometimes delayed because of global economic | | | | Mazda floor mats or any auto part for that |
| conditions. "I have not been told this is a dead | | | | matter. It means expansion of reach to compete |
| issue," von Cannon added. "We will continue to | | | | closely in the global arena. |