Japanese Classic Bikes
What's the oldest car manufacturer in Japan Like most questions, the answer is not necessarily simple, but there is one thing we can guarantee it's not Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, or one of the brands you might expect from a candidate, however, is Isuzu, founded in 1916, making it 100 years old this year.
Like most countries, Japan at the edge of the industrial revolution was a lot of handymen in sheds trying to produce transportation horseless What is officially considered the first Japanese car was a unique 1902 contraption built by Shintaro Yoshida First car production was the Takuri 1907, although only 10 units were known to have been built and none survived 1907 also saw the founding of Daihatsu, but until 1930 his activity was mainly small engines for generators and other industrial applications.
Two modern societies that claim to be the oldest car manufacturer in Japan Mitsubishi and Isuzu both sprang massive shipyards large industrial companies Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Corporation released its Model A in 1917, but what has become Isuzu was founded in 1916, when the Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipbuilding engineering Company has joined forces with Tokyo Gas and Electric.
The giant shipbuilding met the incentives offered by law to support the military government vehicles, adopted following conflicts like the Russo-Japanese War and World War I, to stimulate the development of large trucks In March 1918, the first truck Isuzu was born the name Isuzu wouldn t be invented for many years, so it was called simply called TGE a deviation, after the initials of one of its parent companies.
Japan is developing at a rapid pace, and so is the passenger car market these weren t necessarily for private property, since only would be well off to be able to pay them, but taxis and foreign enterprises city cars like Ford and GM had set up local factories, pouring cheap cars in Japan at the time, mass production infrastructure of Japan was still decades away, while its shipbuilder to do.
An agreement was signed with the British manufacturer Wolseley to produce cars under license, and in December 1922 a A9 Wolseley left the Isuzu line calls it the first major production car made in Japan, but we would say despite his Mitsubishi lower production figures had beat them in all cases, the timing was fortuitous, because the big earthquake hit the following year, leveling Tokyo and create a huge demand for cars and trucks to help in the recovery process the Japanese government intervened again, incentives to encourage development.
Economically and wise infrastructure, it was still difficult for private cars become widely adopted in Japan and Isuzu left the car market behind to create more profitable trucks in 1927, Tokyo Ishikawajima engineering shipbuilding began building trucks and buses of its own design, localized for the Japanese market Often these would be named after the famous rivers like the Sumida 1929, which takes its nickname from the main waterway that winds 27 kilometers Tokyo.
One in particular, created in 1933 in direct response to the Department of standards Trade and Industry of the Government, was named Isuzu, after the Isuzu River in Mie Prefecture Immortalized in the song through Japanese history, tributary flows directly by the great shrine of Ise one the most famous holy sites Isuzu country itself literally means fifty bells, named for the daughter of an emperor 50 chimes installed in the area 2,000 years ago.
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