General Motors (GM) is planning to re-enter the U.S. market for medium-duty work trucks, according to a report, signaling the automaker’s return to a growing and potentially lucrative section of the automotive space where it has been absent for several years.
GM will develop the new vehicle with its longtime partner Isuzu, a Japanese automaker. Isuzu will build the truck, called the N-Series, but it will be branded and sold by GM in the U.S. under the Chevrolet nameplate, reports The Wall Street Journal.
This isn’t a terribly strange arrangement. The Journal notes that GM already buys vans produced by Nissan and sells them in the U.S.
The return to the medium-duty work truck market is another attempt by GM’s CEO Mary Barra to re-establish the GM brand, the Journal said. The automaker abandoned the segment of the automotive market in 2009 when it went through a bankruptcy reorganization.
The medium-duty truck market has grown 3.5% so far in 2015, the newspaper said.