Details of Cars

Chevrolet N-Series: the Isuzu Elf sold as a Chevrolet

CHEVROLET

Isuzu Elf N-Series truck
An Isuzu Elf N-Series truck. Photo by Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The Chevrolet N-Series is Chevrolet’s name for medium-duty trucks designed by Isuzu, where they are sold as the Elf. Built since 1959, the range has been sold in the United States under the Chevrolet and GMC brands as the W-Series, and the same trucks are used as the basis for buses and share taxis across Asia.

Chevrolet N-Series at a glance

Chevrolet N-Series key facts
Production since 1959 as the Isuzu Elf
Isuzu name Elf; N series and Q series outside Japan
Chevrolet names N-Series, and W-Series in North America
North American sales since the early 1980s
Cab wide-cab version only for North America
Assembly in South America GM Colmotores, Bogotá, since 1991
Colombian output 20,000 to 60,000 units a year
Typical uses light trucks, microbuses, school and staff buses

The article is based on the English Wikipedia page on the Isuzu Elf, which covers the Chevrolet-badged N-Series and W-Series trucks.

History of the Chevrolet N-Series

The Isuzu Elf has been in production since 1959 and is sold outside Japan as the N series and Q series. Australia was an important early market, to the point that the truck was built there with many local parts from the 1970s. Since the early 1980s it has also been built and sold in the United States under the Chevrolet and GMC brands as the W-Series, and as the Isuzu N-Series; North America takes only the wide-cab version.

Isuzu Elf truck
Another Elf of the same generation. Photo by Dinkun Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

In South America the truck has been assembled at the GM Colmotores plant in Bogotá, Colombia since 1991, with annual output growing from 20,000 to as many as 60,000 units as demand in Colombia and its neighbours rose. Those trucks carry ‘Tecnología Isuzu’ lettering to underline the Japanese engineering.

In Indonesia, the Philippines and several other Asian countries the Elf is not only a truck: local body builders convert the lightest four-wheeled versions into microbuses, which serve as intercity share taxis, the Indonesian angkot and the Philippine jeepney, as well as school and staff buses. Indonesian conversions usually have car-style hinged doors and look like high-roof vans, while most conversions in Kenya and the newer ones in the Philippines resemble minibuses with a folding side door and standing room for passengers.

Design and features

  • Isuzu foundation: the same truck is sold in Japan as the Isuzu Elf.
  • W-Series: the North American name under which Chevrolet and GMC sold the range.
  • Colombian assembly: built at GM Colmotores since 1991.
  • Bus conversions: a favourite base for microbuses and share taxis in Asia.

Chevrolet N-Series versions

  • W-Series: the North American Chevrolet and GMC versions.
  • Wide-cab models: the only versions sold in North America.
  • Colombian-built trucks: assembled by GM Colmotores for the Andean market.
  • Microbus conversions: local bodywork on the lightest chassis in South-East Asia and Africa.

The N-Series sits below the heavier trucks in the range, alongside the Chevrolet Kodiak, and above the light Chevrolet Colorado. More trucks are in the Chevrolet collection.

Sources

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