Category: Modern PUV

Isuzu Philippines rolls out newest Class 2 modern PUV design

Gelzon de la CruzLeave a comment

Isuzu Philippines has presented the latest among several designs for modern Class 2 public utility vehicles, this newest model featuring side doors up front for driver and passenger, making it more similar in layout to the classic jeepney.

Press Statement by Isuzu Philippines Corp., “Isuzu PH presents new PUV Class 2 design to elevate Filipino commuting experience,” 02 May 2023:

Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC), one of the pioneer providers of modern public utility vehicles (PUV) in the country, presented its new PUV Class 2 design to Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) at LTFRB NCR Office last April 28, 2023.

The event was well attended by DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista, LTFRB Chairman Atty. Teofilo Guadiz III, CESE LTFRaB Regional Director II – NCR Atty. Zona Russet Tamayo and Pasang Masda Jeepney Transport Service Corp. President Roberto “Ka-Obet” Martin. On the other hand, Isuzu Philippines was led by its Vice President for Sales Yasuhiko Oyama, Yuchengco Group Head Johnny Fetalvero and Del Monte Motor Works Inc Executive Vice President – Don Morales. Also in attendance were numerous transport cooperatives, suppliers and banks partners.

PHOTO From left: IPC Asst. Division Head for Sales – Robert Carlos; CESE Regional Director II LTFRB-NCR – Atty. Zona Russet Tamayo; Yuchengco Group Head – Johnny Fetalvero; IPC VP for Sales – Yasuhiko Oyama; LTRFB Chairman – Atty. Teofilo Guadiz III; DOTr Secretary – Jaime Bautista; Pasang Masda President – Roberto “Obet” Martin; IPC Dept. Head for CV Sales – Mario Ojales

Integrating the needs of the driver and commuters into the new body design, the new Isuzu PUV now has two side doors for the driver and front passenger, just like the old Jeepneys. Aligned with the updated Philippine National Standard (PNS) Guidelines for Class 2 PUV, the new redesigned panoramic windows, cushioned seats, and new luggage compartments are all designed for the convenience of passengers. As basic parts of the modern PUV, its features also included GPS unit, Automated Payment System, Built-in Monitor and Digital Signboards to name a few. All these features help elevate the commuting experience of Filipinos.

During his speech, Ka-Obet shared to his fellow transport cooperatives the advantages of modernizing their fleet with a reliable brand like Isuzu, “Our chosen PUVs will be our workhorse for decades, so we need a PUV that is durable and can give reassurance to the safety and convenience of our drivers and passengers.”

PHOTO From left (front): IPC Asst. Division Head for Sales – Robert Carlos; IPC Dept. Head for CV Sales – Mario Ojales; Yuchengco Group Head – Johnny Fetalvero; IPC VP for Sales – Yasuhiko Oyama; DOTr Secretary – Jaime Bautista; Pasang Masda President – Roberto “Obet” Martin; LTRFB Chairman – Atty. Teofilo Guadiz III;  CESE Regional Director II LTFRB-NCR – Atty. Zona Russet Tamayo; Office of Transport Cooperatives Chairman – Jesus Ferdinand “Andy” Ortega; ACTO National President  – Liberty de Luna; Del Monte Motor Works Inc. Executive Vice President – Don Morales

From left (back): Euodoo Technologies Inc. President – Julius Evan Zapata; LTOP President – Orlando Marquez; Philippine Cooling Expert Services Corp Vice President – Michael Tagle

Pasang Masda’s strong commitment to uplifting the quality of public transportation has led them to organizing this movement towards modernizing and continuously improving their fleet. Pasang Masda’s fleet only comprised of Isuzu PUVs. They are planning to add more of these newly designed PUVs to their fleet which will be utilized on additional routes within the Metro.

“We all love our old jeepneys due to its durability and reliability, and today, we are providing you the same core values plus more. With the new Isuzu PUV you don’t just get durability, reliability, and fuel efficiency but also an elevated comfort and convenience,” said VP Oyama.

To complete the package, IPC also offers an extensive aftersales support. With its 48 outlets nationwide which are all capable of servicing light to heavy-duty trucks and nationwide parts availability, transport cooperatives will not have to worry about vehicle maintenance and operation downtime. At Isuzu, their purchase is just the beginning of a long-term partnership because IPC together with its dealers makes sure that transport cooperatives will get the most out of their Isuzu PUV.

Follow Isuzu Philippines’ official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IsuzuPhilippines to get regular updates on the Isuzu brand.

Isuzu serves repeat customer with largest single delivery of modern PUVs

Gelzon de la Cruz

Isuzu Philippines has delivered 25 Class 2 modern public utility vehicles (PUVs) to MetroExpress Connect, Inc. (MCI), a private corporation operating public transport fleets across the country. Intended for public transport routes in Las Pinas and Cavite, the 25 Isuzu modern PUVs with Almazora bodies represent the truckmaker’s largest single delivery so far (exceeding the 20 for a Tarlac transport cooperative last March), and this one for a third purchase batch by MCI.

Press Statement by Isuzu Philippines Corp. (IPC), “Isuzu Philippines turns over 25 units of modern PUVs to MetroExpress Connect Inc.,” 2019:

Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC), the country’s leading manufacturer and distributor of brand-new trucks, continues its effort to support the government’s Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP) to bring safer, more efficient, more convenient, and more environmentally sustainable transport system to Filipinos.

IPC turned over the third batch of brand-new Isuzu PUVs to MetroExpress Connect Inc. (MCI), which consists of 25 units that will ply the routes of Las Piñas to Daang Hari, Kawit, Cavite to PITX, Tanza, Cavite to PITX, and General Trias to Daang Hari.

MCI started as shuttle services group, with a fleet of no more than 20 shuttles servicing private subdivisions, providing quality transportation to communities, connecting them to commercial developments and city centers.

As the years progress, MCI have soon acquired bigger and bolder projects, widening their operation, and choosing Isuzu PUVs as their transportation hub, MCI will be able to guarantee its commuters to have a safe, seamless, and reliable transportation.

IPC’s modernized PUVs assembled using the Isuzu QKR77 platform and the PUV body designed and manufactured by Almazora Motors Corp, is equipped with the Euro IV-compliant 4JH1-TC diesel engine that delivers better fuel economy and cleaner emissions than jeepneys; thus guarantees its clients like MetroExpress Connect Inc. to provide quality and reliable transportation, connecting passengers and communities to their destinations the easy way.

IPC President Hajime Koso encouraged other transport companies across the country to already make that switch to safer, cleaner, more convenient, and more reliable modernized PUVs. “I have always believed that the Isuzu PUVs are truly a vehicle made by the Filipinos for the Filipinos and we are confident that these units will be able to provide a more durable, comfortable, and safe transport solution for the riding public.”

For more information about Isuzu PUVs, visit the nearest Isuzu dealer, or log on to www.isuzuphil.com.

Isuzu joins LTFRB Modern PUV Caravan series, shows new NLR77-based PUV at kick-off event in Clark, Pampanga

Gelzon de la Cruz2 Comments

Isuzu Philippines Corporation (IPC) joined the LTFRB’s Modern PUV Caravan 2019 with the leading truckmaker showing their next stage NLR77-based Class 2 public utility vehcile (PUV) for the first time in public at the kick off event last Thursday, the fourth of July, in Clark, Pampanga. In what IPC President Hajime Koso confirmed to be the model’s first public appearance, the NLR77-based transport’s showing at the start of the multi-sectoral and months-long road show signals Isuzu’s continued commitment to the much celebrated Public Utility Vehicle Modernization Program (PUVMP), yes, but more pointedly represents both an upgrade to and a mainstreaming of their modern PUV line up.

Isuzu NLR77 Class 2 PUV leads motorcade to LTFRB Modern PUV kick-off in Clark, Pampanga

Isuzu QKR77 and NLR77 truck platforms

Back in September 2017 when IPC and partner body builders Centro and Almazora were already several months into the development of Isuzu’s modern PUVs, the brand introduced their updated, Euro-4 compliant light-, medium- and heavy-duty truck lines. That revamp was in response to the  mandate for all newly acquired trucks to have Euro 4 engines by the following year, the initiative that put the country ahead of all other markets in the region.

Before motorcade roll-out: (left-to-right) IPC Sales Head Joseph Bautista, IPC VP for Sales Yasuhiko Oyama, and IPC President Hajime Koso with new Isuzu NLR77 Class 2 PUV in foreground, Isuzu QKR77 PUVs with Centro and Almazora bodies in background

Since 2017, in what must be tumultuous times for the Philippine market leader and global major player, Isuzu has been: (1) facing a public transport modernization program forecasted to more than double the demand for light-duty trucks until the next decade; (2) responding to an early, some would say premature, push for first-world fuel emissions standards on the nation’s all-important cargo haulers; and (3) all these while defending dominant market shares in all truck segments, something that has defined Isuzu Philippines since before the turn of the millennium.

Accelerated timetables for multiple, and separate, public sector agendas, plus the requirement for market-friendly pricing, forced Isuzu to first build their modern PUV contender on the most basic model of their N-series light-duty truck platforms and then to keep this as a holdover model updated with a new Euro-4 engine after the wholesale revamp in 2017. This was re-designated the QKR77. It featured the previous generation’s cabin (not Isuzu’s current Hexapod design that pushes out walls to maximize internal space) mated to a new 3.0 liter 4JH1-TC turbodiesel that’s made Euro 4 compliant mainly with electronics that fine tune its new high-pressure common-rail fuel injection system (a commercial truck with an engine made high-end refined with a CRDi package).

The QKR77 platform has been put to good use, accounting for over a hundred units sold since Isuzu delivered the modernization program’s very first jeepney replacements–15 units of Class 2 PUVs, to the pioneering Senate Employees Transport Service Cooperative (SETSCO) of Pasay City in June last year.  Last month, Isuzu delivered the program’s first Class 3 PUVs–15 units to the Metro Comet Transport Cooperative to serve as point-to-point transports between Rizal and Metro Manila.

(Left-to-right) IPC President Hajime Koso and IPC Sales Division Head Joseph Bautista with Isuzu-Centro QKR77, Isuzu-Almazora QKR77 and Isuzu-Santa Rosa NLR77 Class 2 PUVs

Now, IPC President Koso reports that they’ve not only kept their modern jeepney models at pace with Isuzu’s global line up with their development of the current-model NLR77-based PUV, Isuzu Philippines has also diversified vertically with new local production of driveline components for their light-duty trucks.  The new NLR77-based PUV: features bodywork by large scale body builder Santa Rosa Motor Works of Laguna; mounts a prototype roof-mounted airconditioning pack that they are working on with global brand Denso; and is equipped with a 5-speed manual transmission and a drive axle that are now produced locally by IPC (for the NLR77 as well as all other light-duty truck models).

IPC President Hajime riding shotgun and getting driver feedback on the new NLR77 modern PUV

Isuzu’s move to mainstream their modern PUV models with the new NLR77 build, and their localization of transmission and axle production for these as well as other light-duty truck models, put meat to Koso’s assertion that Isuzu PUVs are “of the Filipinos, by the Filipinos, for the Filipinos,” and, more importantly, demonstrate how the leading truckmaker is putting muscle to the nation’s efforts to modernize the transport sector.

At LTFRB Modern PUV Caravan kick-off exhibit in Clark, Pampanga: (left-to-right) IPC President Hajime Koso, Cabinet OIC for Land Transportation and Infrastructure Undersecretary Mark Richmond de Leon, and LTFRB Chairman Atty. Martin Delgra III

LTFRB Modern PUV Caravan

The Land Transportation and Franchise Regulatory Board’s (LTFRB’s) Modern PUV Caravan is a series of exhibits to be held nationwide until next year to showcase the new PUV’s that major truckmakers and body builders have developed for the nation’s PUV Modernization Program (PUVMP) initiative to replace classic but obsolete modes of public transport.  At the directive of the LTFRB Chairman Atty. Martin Delgra III, LTO Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante and the cabinet OIC for Road Transportation and Infrastructure Undersecretary Mark Richmond de Leon who attended the kick-off exhibit last week, each exhibition event of the Modern PUV Caravan are to be venues for government one-stop-shops to answer the questions of all PUVMP stakeholders, particularly the transport cooperatives and their drivers who will be operating these new tricycle, jeepney and minibus replacements.

The Modern PUV Caravan’s first phase from July 4 to August 2 will be at the following locations in North Luzon:

  • Clark and San Fernando in Pampanga on July 4 to 5
  • Tarlac, July 8
  • Urdaneta and Dagupan, Pangasinan, July 10
  • Baguio, Benguet, July 12
  • San Fernando, La Union, July 15
  • Vigan, Ilocos Sur, July 1
  • Laoag, Ilocos Norte, July 19
  • Tuguegarao, Cagayan Valley, July 24
  • Cauayan, Isabela, July 26
  • Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, July 29
  • Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, July 31
  • Marilao, Bulacan, August 2

The roadshow’s second phase in September will be at the following South Luzon venues:

  • The Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange on September 2
  • Antipolo, Rizal, September 4
  • Bacoor, Cavite, September 6
  • Santa Rosa, Laguna, September 9
  • Lipa, Batangas, September 11
  • Calapan, Mindoro, September 13
  • Lucena, Quezon, September 16
  • Boac, Marinduque, September 18
  • Naga, Camarines Sur, September 20
  • Legaspi, Albay, September 23
  • Puerta Princesa, Palawan, date to be announced later

The third phase in November will bring the exhibitions to the Visayas at the following locations:

  • Catbalogan in Samar on November 4
  • Tacloban and Ormoc, Leyte, November 6
  • Tagbilaran, Bohol, November 8
  • Cebu City, November 11
  • Iloilo, Panay, November 15
  • Bacolod, Negros Occidental, November 18
  • Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, November 20

The fourth and final phase in January and February next year will bring then Modern PUV Caravan to Mindanao.

For information and updates on the Modern PUV Caravan, visit http://www.isuzuphil.com.