In a prior post, I had written about how if I were in charge at General Motors; I would orchestrate GM and Isuzu each purchasing a 50% stake in the School Bus manufacturer Blue Bird in a move similar to when IH/Navistar had purchased Ward/AmTran in 1991 and when Daimler/Freightliner had purchased Thomas in 1998. And I would provide more details about this business deal in a later post.

This is the post in which I provide more details about how I would orchestrate GM and Isuzu each purchasing a 50% stake in Blue Bird.

The deal would greatly leverage Isuzu’s expertise and specialization in producing Medium & Heavy-Duty trucks and buses.

The Vision/CV200 conventional style bus would be strictly available on the chassis & cowl version of the Chevrolet Kodiak/GMC TopKick C6500/C7500 and would be strictly available with the Isuzu 6HK1-TC Turbo Diesel and the customer’s choice of the Allison 2000 or the Allison/World MD3060; the Blue Bird TC/2000 lighter-duty transit style bus would be strictly available on an Isuzu stripped chassis based on the Isuzu Elf/N-Series with the 4HK1-TC Turbo Diesel Engine and the Aisin A465 transmission, both the Front Engine and Rear Engine versions of the All American transit style bus would be strictly available on chassis based on the Isuzu Forward/F-Series with the Isuzu 6HK1-TC and the customer’s choice of the customer’s choice of the Allison 2000 or the Allison/World MD3060; and the TC/1000 lightest-duty transit style bus would be strictly available on a chassis based on the Isuzu NPR ECOMAX Isuzu 4JJ1-TC Turbo Diesel engine and the Aisin A460 transmission. Blue Bird would discontinue their Type A Cutaway buses much like how IC Corp hadn’t manufactured a Type A bus since the Vanguard in the early 1990’s. Blue Bird’s products would again be as overbuilt as they used to be until the late 1990’s, quality over quantity would once again be Blue Bird’s business model; and Blue Bird would return to using the higher quality vinyl on the student seats that they used to use until the early 2000’s and would return to using their heritage entrance door with the rounded windows that they had previously used until the mid-1990’s. customers could be convinced of how durable, reliable, and trouble free Isuzu’s diesel engines are, of Isuzu’s sterling reputation with their diesel engines, and that Isuzu’s diesel engines would do the job even better than Navistar’s diesels, Cummins diesels, and Caterpillar diesels. Customers could be convinced that Isuzu is the “Japanese Navistar” because of Isuzu currently exiting the light vehicle business and concentrating strictly on building their Medium & Heavy-Duty trucks and their diesel engines much like how International Harvester had exited the light truck, farm equipment, and lawn equipment businesses; decided that their core businesses would be their Medium & Heavy-Duty trucks and their diesel engines and had changed their name to Navistar International upon this transition. Isuzu has just as rich of a Medium-Heavy truck history and as rich of a diesel engine history as Navistar. Driving an Isuzu Medium-Duty truck is more exciting than driving a Rodeo, Amigo, or a Trooper and driving International’s Medium & Heavy Trucks was and is more exciting than driving International’s light-duty trucks (including the Scout). Customers can be persuaded to imagine a Rodeo, Amigo, or Trooper doing what these buses on the Isuzu chassis could do and also imagine what an IH pickup, Travelall, or Scout doing what International’s School Bus chassis always has been able to do-customers would easily be convinced that these companies’ light-duty trucks would ultimately fail at doing what these Medium-Duty School Bus chassis can do. Regarding Blue Bird’s Commercial Bus product line, the Q-Bus and CS would be replaced with North American spec versions of the Isuzu Erga, Erga Mio, and the Gala Mio buses. Saint-Gobain Sekurit would be chosen as the supplier for the windshield on the Blue Bird School Buses and the wired heated windshield would be used on the Blue Bird School Buses. Saint-Gobain Vertex would be chosen as the supplier for the glass on the entry/exit door on the Blue Bird School Buses, and Guardian would be chosen as the supplier for all the side glass and the glass on the rear emergency door and the rear end cap of the Blue Bird School Buses. Saint-Gobain Sekurit would also be chosen as the supplier for the windshields of the captive imported Isuzu commercial buses that would be sold as Blue Birds in the North American markets, and the Climacoat windshield would be used on the commercial buses.