December 5, 2001
Isuzu Motors Limited

On December 4, Isuzu Motors Ltd. (Isuzu) held a line-off ceremony at the Fujisawa Factory to celebrate the production of Isuzu Group's 15,000,000th diesel engine.

The engine that became the official No. 15,000,000 was a highly advanced 3-liter V6 diesel engine model 6DE1, which is provided to Saab of Sweden and which complies with the European Union exhaust gas regulation Euro III.

Isuzu first started to mass-produce diesel engines in 1938 at the Kawasaki Factory. It has taken the company 63 years to reach a total production figure of 15 million units, after expanding its production bases to Thailand, Indonesia, China, Poland and North America in recent years. The total number of diesel engines produced by Isuzu passed the 5 million units mark in 1985 and the 10 million units mark in 1994. The 15 million units mark has been reached in this, the company's 64th year of diesel engine production.

At present, Isuzu is producing 13 diesel engine models ranging from the 1.1-liter model 3LB1 industrial engine to the 30-liter model 10TD1 truck engine. In addition to equipping these engines in its own products, the company supplies these diesels worldwide to makers of automobiles, industrial equipment and ships beginning with the GM Group.

Thanks to their high thermal efficiency, diesel engines feature excellent fuel efficiency, which means their CO2 emissions are low. For this reason, they have gained widespread attention as a type of internal combustion engine that can play a major role in slowing fossil fuel depletion and preventing global warming. In Western Europe, the ratio of diesel engine-equipped passenger cars rose from 22.2% of the whole passenger car market in 1995 to 32.3% in 2000, and further increases are expected to take diesel's share to more than 50% in the future. Moreover, as technology for cleaning up exhaust gas emissions is developed, the demand for diesel is expected to increase throughout the world and particularly in North America.

Isuzu is tackling the task of achieving even cleaner exhaust gas emissions by making full use of its technological prowess gained through long experience in the field. Armed with the latest in-house technology, the company will proceed to develop the next-generation ultra-clean diesel. Isuzu also remains committed to continuing to provide high-performance, high-quality diesel engines to its customers all over the world.

Total Numbers of Diesel Engines Produced at Isuzu's Various Production Bases with Production Start Dates

* The diesel engines produced by Isuzu in Thailand, Indonesia and China are the same models as those produced at the Fujisawa Factory, so in the above table they have been included in the production figure for the Fujisawa Factory.

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