HAVING become something of a one horse wonder, Isuzu is now fighting it out in one of the hottest sectors of the UK car market.
Its sole model is the Rodeo pick-up now that the long established, and well respected, Trooper off-roader has bitten the dust.
The pick-up market is booming and there are plenty of quality machines to be had.
While the Rodeo is more at the functional end of the market, Isuzu has just launched a luxury version with a pepped up three-litre diesel engine.
This is five-seat, four-door double-cab pick-up called the Denver Max LE and it is available with almost £6,000 worth of accessories for just over £2,000 extra.
Priced at £19,990 (excluding VAT), the Denver Max LE comes with a Prodrive Performance Pack, 18 inch Prodrive alloy wheels with 255/60 Pirelli Scorpion Zero tyres, two-tone leather seats and door inserts, a Prodrive Mesh grille, a tough load-liner and an XTC hard top.
The Prodrive kit - normally associated with Subaru - is a spin-off from Isuzu's UK importers, International Motors, which brings both brands, as well as Daihatsu, into Britain.
Also standard on the Denver Max is a Bluetooth communications kit, SmartNav satellite navigation with touchscreen, one year's free SmartNav subscription and one year's free RAC Trackstar subscription.
Other Max features include a soft-type front bar with chrome insert, chrome side steps, rear chrome bumper and light guards and brushed steel door entry guards.
This is in addition to air-conditioning, a radio/CD-player, four electric windows, leather-wrapped steering wheel, keyless-entry and selectable shift-on-the-fly 4WD or 2WD at speeds up to 60mph.
The Prodrive Performance Pack boosts the three-litre turbo-diesel engine's power from 131PS to 155PS at 3,800rpm, while torque increases from 206.5lb/ft to a solid 258.1lb/ft at the same 2,000rpm.
Apart from stronger throttle response, increased flexibility and greater refinement, the 0-60mph acceleration time is reduced from 16.8 seconds to 12.4 seconds.
Another Isuzu initiative sees the highly successful Rodeo Denver Max SDT special edition staying on sale throughout 2006.
The Denver Max SDT will now be available in both manual and automatic transmission formats and in a wider choice of colours.
These models feature SmartNav and all the subscription benefits of the new LE together with the Max styling kit. Priced at £15,990 (manual) and £16,990 (automatic) OTR but excluding VAT, the latest Denver Max SDT represents a saving of £1,639 compared to the existing Denver Max.