Isuzu Motors LTD, commonly known as Isuzu Trucks, is a Japanese commercial truck manufacturer. Originating in Japan, these trucks make their way to the US via ocean freight. Isuzu also has a bit of a history with UD Trucks and General Motors in the United States, plus they work with truck manufacturers in Turkey, Russia, India, and China. You can find Isuzu trucks in all the furthest corners of the world. This blog post will only cover the trucks sold in the United States and Canada but rest assured, they have a lot more to their company than we outline here.

While Isuzu Trucks started by importing trucks, they have manufacturing facilities in the United States. Their Janesville, Wisconsin, began producing trucks in early 1991, with Charlotte, Michigan, coming online in 2011. All Isuzu trucks are known as LCF or low cab forward trucks. The driver sits on top of the engine versus the engine in front of them in a conventional model. This gives greater visibility and turning radius for the drivers.

Our data is backed by our Diesel VIN decoder, which decodes millions of VINs yearly. This data is analyzed to re-create the same model years that trucks manufactured. 

Note that model years and the actual year that trucks are built are often different. Most times, the model year is one year from the manufacturing date. The next model years typically come out in February or March of the previous year. This means a truck built in April 2022 is typically a 2023 model year. The years given here are model years, not the year the truck manufactured.

The other essential item is that we do not include gliders in our year ranges. Gliders are trucks built either without engines or with remanufactured engines. This was a loophole around emission-related truck engines for several years before it was closed by the government, and gliders were no longer allowed. 

Isuzu Trucks FRR

The Isuzu Trucks FRR is a Class 5 truck built from 1995 through 2004. It came with only one of two engines – The Isuzu 6HE1-TC 7.1L through 1999 or starting in 2000; it came with the 6HK1-TC 7.9L diesel engine.

Isuzu Trucks FSR

The Isuzu Trucks FSR is also in the same “Generation” as the FRR, except the Isuzu FSR is meant to haul slightly heavier loads, being a Class 6 truck. This truck also isn’t trendy (There are very few VINs we’ve decoded, and there is a total of 1 Isuzu FSR for sales in the entire United States as of this blog post), so it is hard to tell the year ranges. We assume it follows the FRR since they were using the same engines and part of the same era. We also have only seen Isuzu FSR model trucks with the 6HK1-TC engine.

Isuzu Trucks FTR

Isuzu Trucks FTR is slightly larger than the FSR and is a Class 6. It has the same cab as the Isuzu FSR, has been around since at least 1994, and still manufactures today. Although the cab design has changed over the years, the FTR has stood the test. It has seen various gas and diesel engines over the year. Today, the Isuzu FTR only comes with Cummins B6.7L but is built with the 6BG1, 6HE1, 4HK1, & 6HK1 for diesel power. You will also find some units running around with the General Motors Vortec 5.3L gas version.

Isuzu Trucks FVR

The Isuzu Trucks FVR is a class 7 truck but a very unpopular model. There isn’t a huge need for Class 7 LCF trucks in North America, so we can’t be entirely sure when it first manufactured. The best data shows it coming out around 2007, but we know it still manufacturers today. We’ve found VINs where it has the Isuzu 6HK1 engine,  4HK1 engine, and now the Cummins B6.7L. The cab is the same as the Isuzu FTR.

Isuzu Trucks FXR

The Isuzu Trucks FXR could build as either a Class 7 or Class 8 truck, and there hasn’t been much demand for an LCF Class 8 truck in a long time. This truck is also commonly found in non-North American markets. It could build as a 4×2 or 6×4 axle configuration, and it predominantly uses the larger Isuzu 6HK1 7.8L engine. However, we found a couple of VINs that also had the General Motors Vortec 5.3L gas engine. With limited VIN records to look at, our best estimate is that this truck was sold in North America from 2005 through 2009.

Isuzu Trucks NPR

The Isuzu Trucks NPR has been the cornerstone of the Isuzu market for many years. Our VIN decoder only tracks the last 30 years of vehicle data, and the NPR nomenclature was in use from 1994 to 2014. The NPR series has lived on being branched through the years as the Isuzu NPR-HD and ISUZU NPR-XD, which we will discuss below. The Isuzu NPR has always offered a gas and diesel version, with General Motors handling the various gas engines. For diesel engines, the Isuzu 4BD2-TC (1994-98), 4HE1 (1999-04), 4HK1 (2005-09), and 4JJ1 (2011-2014) have all been used. The Isuzu NPR has only offered a Class 3 truck.

Isuzu NPR-HD

For customers demanding a slightly larger carrying capacity, the Isuzu NPR-HD is the Class 4 version at the 14,500 lb rating. Using the same cab and engines, the only difference was in the size of the axles, as these are all still 4×2 axle configurations. These trucks manufactured in the same years, from 1994 to the current year.

Isuzu Trucks NPR-XD

The largest of the Isuzu NPR series is the Isuzu NPR-XD. This is still a class 4 truck but rates at 16,000 GVWR, which means it can haul another 1,500 lbs compared to the Isuzu NPR-HD. This truck came along later, with the first years we can find starting with the model year 2015, and it still manufactures today. This truck has three fuel options available throughout its time – Gas, Diesel, and CNG. All of the trucks in the NPR-Series use the same cab.

Isuzu Trucks NQR

The Isuzu Trucks NQR has been around since 1999 and is the bigger brother of the Isuzu NPR. The Isuzu NQR uses the same cab and engines, but it is a Class 5 truck rated at 17,950 lbs allowing slightly more payload, but it isn’t anywhere near as common as the Isuzu Trucks NPR series. The Isuzu NQR  still manufactures today. You’ll find it made with the Isuzu 4HE1 & Isuzu 4HK1 diesel-powered engines.

Isuzu Trucks NRR

The Isuzu NRR is also a Class 5 truck with a GVWR of 19,500 lbs. It is the largest weight rating of the N-Series and initially came into the market in 1999. It still sells today, and it has used the same cabs as the other N-Series trucks throughout that time. This truck was also only built with the inline 4-cylinder engines of the time, which were 4HE1 and 4HK1.

Summary

We also love hearing our customer’s stories and thoughts about the various Isuzu Truck models produced over the last 30 years, so make sure to leave a comment!

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