The last piece in Isuzu’s giant jigsaw of new models was put in place last week with the company giving the Australian truck media a taste of its all new off road 4×4 range which completes the all new model range update the company set in train last year.
As Isuzu Australia’s head of Sales Craig White told us , this was now the pointy end of Isuzu’s new model update, and they saw it as being an important part of the entire line up.
“Part of our launch and part of our success over the last 10 to 15 years, has been our success, particularly around our 4×4 product,” Craig White said.
“So we thought it was important that we host an event to showcase what the new model 4x4s can offer, showing where we’ve come from, and where we see this vehicle taking up to the brand, as well as an overview of he 4×4 truck market in Australia, and where our new models fit into that range.” he added
“This segment has become a really important component in our line up, and it fits into multiple categories,” he said
“The 4×4 market is about access, it’s about durability, reliability, and operational capability in probably some of the harshest environments in the world, let alone just in Australia.
“The Australian environment is unique, it’s very demanding, and a lot of what our vehicles are put through is unlike anywhere else in the world, and it’s well beyond what you deem to be a typical truck environment.
” Where we’ve excelled in the past is obviously in emergency services vehicles, where we have a lion’s share of the 4×4 market, across not only Victoria but across 
the broader Australian emergency networks,” White said.
“Similarly, field services where companies like Komatsu and Caterpillar service vehicles and equipment at remote mine sites, and on construction sites etc,” he added.
“These are part of the areas where we’ve actually drawn a lot of our success and these are the areas where we’re continuing to dial in and to really target into the future, so part of the challenge of these vehicles is they may be located in a metro area, but then they need to be located on site and 4×4 capable and ready to work,” said White.
“So our, motto that “Reliability is Everything” is crucially important for these vehicles and it’s something that we really want to encapsulate with the new models, so, I guess its a little bit about our legacy, and where we come from.” he said
“In the N series space, our NPS has defined this 4×4 product segment, which initially came in manual, and then relatively recently, in the end of the last model life cycle, we introduced an AMT into the lineup,” said White
“This is undoubtedly one of our strongest performing 4×4 products that we do have, and there are some marked changes to this product,” he said.
“It opens up multiple aspects of the market, not only in traditional emergency services and mining services, etc. but throughout the COVID period, it actually opened up more of a retail market to us,,” he said.
“The backbone of what we have achieved is in this space is emergency services such as rural fire, state SES services and the like, where we have a really strong market share, but even more than other sectors, reliability really is everything in this space.
“If you’re relying on a product for a particular dangerous moment to do its job, it is crucially important that this product is reliable and does what it says it’s going to be doing every single time.
“The other aspect is that it needs to be easy for a driver who may be a volunteer, who is just working on a weekend part-time to hop in, and they’re not a truck person and do the job safely and reliably.
“So the purpose of what we want to achieve is to make our trucks user-friendly and easy to operate for the volunteers, which is why the NPS is a perfect vehicle in this emergency services space.”
“Mining resources is also a huge opportunity for us and we know that chain of responsibility and compliance, particularly around overloading vehicles is an important factor,” he said
“We have opportunities with some of our new products to really touch into this space, particularly around the drivability of the transmissions, but also the capability of the vehicles under loads,
“We want to evolve this space particularly around the transmission, around the functionality of the safety features in these new models.
The NPS platform was undoubtedly one of Isuzu’s biggest growth sectors through the COVID period and it’s actually a market where the companydidn’t envisage customers would be on board with buying a truck.
“In what is a realistically a retail environment, we found some interesting concepts coming out of that pandemic period, and it’s something that we’ve managed to develop a cult following with,” said White.
One of the biggest parts of isuzu’s recent success as a brand in general has been its SNP solutions and the company really highlighted this in an adventurous all day driving exerciss off road at the Australian Automotive Research Centre (AARC) proving ground near Angelsea outside Geelong in Victoria.
Isuzu again took the opportunity to underline its continued “Ute to Truck” sales pitch particularly with its 4×4 models and its ready to work models which are sold directly from its dealers to customers with work bodies already fitted and ready to hit the road or the worksite.
Isuzu Australia’s head of product management and chief engineer, Simon Humphries, said the new range represented the next major step in the company’s evolution.
Humphries explained that the company’s NMS model now replaces the what was previously the NLS, which was a car licence only truck, but the new model is able to be specified in car licence spec with a GVM less than 4.5 tonnes, or as a 6.5 tonne six medium rigid licence vehicle.
“This means of course that the model now delivers more payload than before. As well as that, and pretty crucially in the current market environment, is that it was only available in manual transmission spec. Now, however, it’s available with a two pedal solution adding greatly to its versatility and market appeal, not to mention its ease of operation,” said Humphries.
The NQS is also new in that it has gone up a little more in terms of GVM, but also has the new two pedal transmission.
“The NQS model hits a sweet spot between the eight tonne GVM and NQS and the medium duty FTS which is seen just about everywhere.,” he added.
“The FTS now also has more GVM and is rated at 15 tonnes with even more capacity and payload,” he explained.
The Isuzu 4×4 range in Australia goes back to 
the early 1980s when in around 1982 Isuzu made its 4×4 JCS available in Australia for the first time. The JCS was eventually replaced by the 4×4 FTS. The FTS was the designation that replaced the JCS, with the first 4×4 FTS introduced in 1987, followed two years later in 1989 by the FSS boasting a slightly narrower cab.
Interstingly, as Isuzu’s product planning guru Simon Humphries explained, the NPS model was actually developed especially for Australia. In Japan the typical all-wheel drive or 4×4 platform is used for slippery roads, but not necessarily for going off road as such.
This means that they didn’t necessarily have massive ground clearance or a low range transfer case or anything other targeted off road specs.
Simpn Humphries’ predecessors clearly wanted something that was a bit more off road focused with features such as a low range transfer case, larger wheels and greater ride height.
To that end the NPS was developed for the Australian market initially
Around 2010 isuzu launched the NLS, which is a model that has now morphed into the NMS. The NLS gaining a strong folloiwing from the start, with a really good spec for councils.
Humphries explained it was really good for councils, because it was not just for serious off road opertations, but in typicaly slippery conditions such as on grass, in gravel and otehr such situations.
The next evolution of Isuzu’s 4×4 range was in response to demand for ease of driving the bigger 4×4 models which precipoated the factrory fitting the Allison full automatic transmission to the FTS model, which Humphries explained was a priority for the Australian operation.
The Allison Auto was installed in the FTS from the factory in 2012, but some operators had been doing their own conversions locally in Australia for some time.
“In 2018 we introduced an AMT to the NPS, making it a very good truck both off road and on road. However that was only a five speed AMT,” Humphries said.
“The difference between that and the new nine speed dual clutch AMT, in terms of availability of ratios and having the right gear for any given condition is enormous, as our drive at the Angelsea proving ground demonstrated admirably.”
“Our new 4x4s, in particular the NMS and NQS, and the FTS, get a lot more safety features than before, even though they’re designated as off road machines,” Humphries said.
“You know some of those safety tech features that are in our on road trucks aren’t necessarily suited to off road conditions, but we still have most of them on these new trucks,” he added.
“As I mentioned, we’ve got our nine-speed dual clutch AMT transmission fitted to the NMS and the NQS, and that’s very impressive, along with the all new cab and interior, and all the features that we’ve launched in our range since it was unveiled last,” he said.
Humphries explained that the GVM for the NPS has increased from 7.5 tonnes up to eight tonnes which he points out is really important for the rural fire services, because it allows them to carry another 400 kilos of water on board.
“There’s a little bit extra weight because of the after treatment, but the payload increase is enormous from the previous NPS to here,” he said.
The product planning boss was eager to point out that in the larger F series 4×4 range the safety package is again very impressive.
“EBS has been introduced, so if that’s in an air on hydraulic system on the FTS and FSS, so fast response, and it also has electronic stability control, which is all new,” said Humphries.
Being a truck that is built to be used in off road conditions the EBS and ESC turns off when low range is selected avoiding any tricky electronic conflicts in operation.
“You don’t want stability control hampering your ability to get some traction in tough conditions,” Humphries explained.
Isuzu’s new 4HA-1 is the powerplant fitted to the 210 horsepower FSX, and the DB6-A, which was the engine tht Isuzu says was jointly developed with Cummins for the FTS.
Humphries pointed out that the FTS is an impressive beast with its all new cabin and interior and with a new 15 tonne GVM, with a 5.5 tonnes steer axle.
“With the new the new national heavy vehicle law regulations, where the concessional mass limits are now the new general mass limits, we believe that you can actually use most or all of that 15 tonnes in general areas, which is awesome. So, even though you’ve got 5.5 tonne on the steer there, we can go to 9.5 tonne on the on the drive or the rear, so that’s that’s pretty handy,” said Humphries.
He points out that it is actually easier to build on the FTS chassis now, and that there are no rivets on the top of the plant, while with an 870mm width on the chassis it now slightly wider and stronger and easier for body builders to build on.
“It’s also got an engine compression brake, which is something that the DB6-A has enabled us to introduce, we haven’t had any engine compression brakes before,” he said.
“We’ve had exhaust brakes with varying degrees of retardation, but this provides quite 
a lot more, and is very good for descents, becasue as we go down hills, you can just let everything go in the right gear and just crawl down steep hills.
Isuzu’s latest FSS gets an 11-tonne GVM, and is powered by the Isuzu 5.2 litre 4HK-1 four-cylinder with 210 horsepower but is pnly available with a six-speed manual.
“We didn’t get a two-pedal set up for this one, yet, although we do live in hope, but it is available as both a single or crew cab,” Humphries explained.
The FTS boasts a 15 tonne GVM and a 21tonne GCM, as long you have the right trailer control valve through the right packages.
“The new DB6-A engine produces the same peak power, but has nearly 120 Newton metres more torque than the previous FTS, and the maximum torque starts very low, about 1000rpm, so it’s much better suited to off-road operations, but also has that top-end vector needed for driveability ” Humphries explained.
“The Allison six-speed features Gen 6 controlled transmission is very easy to operate and uses a T-bar selector, making it very easy to drive,” he said.
Humphries reckons the ADAS package on the FTS is almost the same as Isuzu has on its 4×2 and 6×4 trucks, save for lane keep assist, but it has pretty much everything else that is featured on its on road range and is also is available as a single crew cab.
Isuzu, as per usual has gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that its accesores work well with its trucks, especially things that enhance operations off roads an in rural areas such as its genuine bull bars.
“We’ve spent the last two plus years in development with the bull bars and they’re actually fully compatible with the safety systems on board, making sure they don’t interfere with the radars and making sure the cameras are still okay,” said Humphries.
“Even the driver and passenger airbags and the pre-tensioner system still works, which most of the after market bull bars don’t or can’t test to the same degree as us, because they just don’t have the data,” he said.
“They say they check it all, but in reality, with the inside knowledge that we’ve got, we can develop those and make sure that they will do the job and work well with our trucks, so that’s important” he added.
“That’s important. Looks like that’s the bush back in the one on the FTSE looks almost identical, but yeah, as I said, you’ve got your radar sensor here for your warnings and the like, and this cut out is obviously there to make sure it doesn’t impede the radar or get in the way at all.
So now Isuzu has a wide spread of specifications in its 4×4 line up with two-pedal, either the dual clutch nine-speed or the Allison six-speed, with only the 11-tonne FSS missing out on the two-pedal set up.
Humphries said that the company is aware that quite a few operators in Australia fit an Allison six-speed auto in there as an aftermarket retrofit at great expense, which apparently works very well, but the local subsidiary hasn’t been able to get the factory to build one yet.
However its the Isuzu Ready to Work range ,that Humphries reckons has the broadest market appeal in the 4×4 line up.
“We’ve got tray pack on an NMS, we’ve got a tipper coming on the NMS, and we’ve got service pack X’s on both the NMS and the NPS, which are all added to our range and make it very comprehensive,” he said.
In an adventurous off road driving program on the Angelsea 4×4 courses we got to see just how good and versatile the Isuzu 4×4 line up really is.
Challenging muddy conditions, a result of days of rain in the lead up to the launch was a stern test for the new range demonstrating the ability to climb steep muddy hills, negotiate boggy roads and even wade a metre deep ford with ease.
The fitment of ISRI drivers seats, and in some instances passenger seats as well, made the rough conditions a lot easier to cope with, whjiule ride quality was much better than one woul normally expect on these conditions. No obstacle proved too great for the Isuzu models as we commanded the course without getting our feet muddy in any retrieval situations.
Even Angeles’s climbing grades proved an easy task for all of the range, from the smallest N series to a heavily laden F series with a very hefty water tank fitted to the back, just as a Rural Fire Service truck would have to haul, and all of them clambered up the 45 degree grade almost without raising a sweat.
It’s an impressive range of off roaders that showed the evolution of Isuzu and its prowess in this sector, proving once again why the brand has reigned supreme in the Australian market for almost all of the past four decades.
We look forward to taking some Isuzu 4x4s into a wider range of conditions on a back country drive sometime soon.
