Whatever Happened To The Isuzu Trooper?
Few vehicles can claim as much credit for popularizing the sport utility vehicle in North America as the Isuzu Trooper. The Japanese automaker began manufacturing the Trooper in 1981, and it quickly became one of Isuzu's most popular models. The boxy SUV remained one of Isuzu's best-loved vehicles for much of the 1980s and 1990s, as drivers celebrated its rugged build, durability, and welcoming price point.
The Trooper endured a handful of redesigns during its heyday as Isuzu began to include two-door and four-door models and offered the option of two-wheel and four-wheel drive. The most radical redesign of the Trooper came in 1991, with Isuzu leaning into a sleeker style and look — one aimed at making the vehicle as suitable for an off-road adventure as a luxurious ride around town. The Trooper's design team would focus more on class and comfort in the ensuing years. But even as SUV sales skyrocketed Stateside throughout the late '90s and early 2000s, sales for the Trooper began to decline.
Isuzu ultimately opted to pull the plug on the Trooper in the early aughts despite the increasingly robust market for SUVs. The vehicle's final model hit showroom floors in 2002.
SUV market changes and safety concerns doomed the Trooper
As for what led to the Isuzu Trooper's decline in sales, there were a couple of likely reasons consumers stopped buying the vehicle. By the early 2000s, the SUV market in the United States was dramatically different than when the Trooper first rose to prominence, with consumers eschewing the Trooper's utilitarian design in favor of SUVs boasting more compact features. Unfortunately for Isuzu, mid-size classics like the Honda CRV and Toyota Rav-4 essentially cornered that market before they could find footing with their oddly conceived Vehicross and other compact models.
Perhaps more problematic for the Trooper than the downsizing trend in the SUV market were mid-'90s reports raising serious questions about its safety, primarily that the vehicle's top-heavy design could make them prone to rolling over when engaged in a sharp turn. One of those tests reportedly found the Trooper tipping onto two wheels when turning at just 33mph, which is concerning, to put it mildly. Sales for Troopers reportedly plummeted in the immediate wake of those reports despite the automaker's vehement insistence they were far from accurate.
While the Trooper ultimately rebounded from the debacle, it never returned to its place of prominence in the North American SUV market, with Isuzu stopping production just a few years later. Despite its downfall, the Trooper remains a well-loved vehicle among SUV enthusiasts and has even become sought after on the secondary market.