Reaching Upmarket: The Japanese Luxury SUVs of 1996

Tom Appel

10 years ago

Anxious to exploit the exploding consumer interest in SUVs, Acura tapped Isuzu for a version of that maker’s Trooper. The SLX became Acura’s first truck.

1996 Acura SLX, Early Japanese SUVs — Anxious to exploit the exploding consumer interest in SUVs, Acura tapped Isuzu for a version of that maker’s Trooper. The SLX became Acura’s first truck.

Fact: Japanese automobile manufacturers were just as willing as American makers to build fuel-thirsty trucks, they just weren’t as good at selling them. Had early versions of the Nissan Pathfinder or Toyota 4Runner sold nearly as well as the Ford Explorer, history might recall said companies less as the “green” good guys they came to be considered.

Let’s travel back to 1996 for a moment. We heard a lot then from greenies lamenting the wasteful nature of the Chevrolet Blazer and Ford Explorer, the latter newly available with an especially thirsty V8 under the hood.

While the Explorer may have been, to some extent, hurting Ford’s image by painting the maker as environmentally unfriendly, the phenomenally popular vehicle was making the company’s shareholders very, very happy.

What many folks forget is how anxious Japanese makers scrambled to get in on the SUV profit parade. Honda, for example, was even willing to compromise its spotless reputation for quality for a piece of the action, selling a rebadged version of the Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport.

Plus, Japanese makers took things a step further. Noting that SUV shoppers had a seemingly insatiable appetite for high-end models with larger engines (loaded V8-powered versions of the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee were already closing on $40,000), a few Japanese brands rolled out their own “premium” SUVs.

With two notable exceptions, these trucks are pretty much historic footnotes now. Back in the Nineties, however, these big Japanese rigs seemed like smart marketing bets. It would be about four years before Lexus would completely reinterpret the luxury SUV by rolling out the RX 300, forcing us to add the word “crossover” to the automotive lexicon and forever changing the expectations of premium-SUV shoppers.

Full-Size 4WD: The Big Rigs of 1989

Acura SLX

Base price: $34,320

Top model: $38,420

Base engine: 190-horsepower 3.2-liter V6

EPA mpg: (city/highway): 15/18

Desperate to offer an Acura-badged SUV, but without a suitable homegrown platform on which to base such a vehicle, Honda tapped Isuzu for a version of that maker’s Trooper (see below). The Honda/Isuzu car swapping would extend far beyond the SLX, however. The partnership also brought car shoppers the Honda Passport (a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo) and Isuzu Oasis (a rebadged Honda Odyssey).