None of the Isuzu dealers are offering the MU-7 with manual transmission in the current year stock. All of them are only offering the automatic version prompting us to believe that Isuzu might have discontinued the manual version of the MU-7.
And this is not a strategy to push the sales of the automatic MU-7, which was recently launched. All these dealers have confirmed that they have not received any new manual versions of the MU-7 from the manufacturer. The only few models available are from the 2015 production batch.
Isuzu's Hindustan Motors plant in Tiruvallur, Chennai had stopped rolling out vehicles since December 2015. This was only to start moving production to their own facility at Sri City, AP. The company wasn't expected to begin production at this facility before April 2016 as they had confirmed that they have enough stock to meet the demand till then. This new plant has an annual production capacity of 50,000 units, which can be expanded to 1.2 lakh units.
Another point to be noted is that Isuzu has globally replaced the MU-7 by the MU-X SUV. This is a seven-seater vehicle that came as a replacement to the Alterra, which is basically the MU-7 sold in the Indian market. So, there is also a possibility of totally phasing out the MU-7 and bringing in the MU-X in India. Let's hope the carmaker clears out the doubts soon by issuing an official statement if they will start producing the manual variants soon or discontinue the car for the MU-X.
