Customer Corner : Anadolu Isuzu – A Hydrogen Halo Over a Gaggle of Shit Stains

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In the diesel-stained world of buses and trucks, Anadolu Isuzu likes to parade itself as some clean-tech innovator. But scratch the paint and you don’t find progress, you find the same old grease and bullshit. A company that’s been neck-deep in tender whispers, production stoppages, and recall chaos is now the latest prop in Cummins’ endless hydrogen pantomime.

The Turkish-Japanese mash-up between Anadolu Group, Isuzu Motors and Itochu has been feeding on Cummins engines for years. Around 5,000 lumps shipped from Darlington to their Kocaeli plant, wedged into buses that clog up cities from Istanbul to Moldova. Now they’re upping the ante, volunteering their 13-metre Kendo bus for Cummins’ new B6.7H hydrogen engine trials. The Americans call it “an exciting moment”. Translation: Anadolu Isuzu gets to be the crash test dummy while Cummins pretends it’s trying to scrub the soot from its own image.

This isn’t innovation. It’s a dirty old marriage trying to pass itself off as a honeymoon. Anadolu gets to look green. Cummins gets another partner to launder its reputation. And we all get fed the same press-release nonsense about “zero-carbon mobility” while the factories still belch out diesel.

The Moldova Tender Fiasco

If you want a real taste of how this lot operate, look at Moldova. In 2020 the Chisinau mayor’s office ran a bus tender. Anadolu Isuzu didn’t just win – it stumbled into victory after the first decision was annulled. Minsk Automobile Plant was binned, complaints flew, and somehow Anadolu walked away with 12.7 million euros. Local reports called it suspicious. They were being polite. Two bids, both dodgy, and the Turkish outfit still got the nod.

It’s the kind of mess that makes public money disappear in a puff of paperwork. No convictions, no admissions, just that familiar smell of favours and back-room nudges. Anadolu’s PR calls it an export success. Everyone else calls it what it looks like.

Factories That Stall, Markets That Choke

In 2019 Anadolu Isuzu hit the brakes and shut production down. Officially it was because of a “contraction in domestic demand”. In reality Turkey’s economy was tanking and so was their order book. For a firm that loves to boast about its 300,000-square-metre facility and 19,000-unit capacity, it folded fast.

Workers stood still, dealers panicked, and management muttered about “temporary suspension”. In the transport world, that’s code for “we’ve run out of luck”. Reliable? Not even close. You can’t preach about global growth when you can’t keep the lights on at home.

Recalls, Breakdowns, and Dangerous Rides

Then there’s the hardware. The Isuzu-branded trucks coming out of their supply chain have been hit with recalls that should make any fleet owner twitch. In 2023, N-series trucks were found with corroding fuses that could kill engine power without warning. Others had seat belts that might as well have been ribbons.

Imagine thundering down a motorway when your ignition dies. It’s not an inconvenience – it’s a bloody death trap. Owners were promised fixes. Some got them, some didn’t. The point is the same: this stuff isn’t bulletproof, it’s booby-trapped.

The Bigger Picture

Add it all up and you’ve got a company that keeps finding new ways to smear its own name. From suspicious tenders to safety risks and factory shutdowns, Anadolu Isuzu has a habit of calling chaos “strategy”. Now it’s handing the keys to Cummins, a partner that knows plenty about fines, emissions, and spin.

If this is the future of clean transport, we’re properly fucked. It’s just another photo-op for companies that don’t believe their own PR. And if you buy one of their buses, you’re not investing in progress. You’re buying into the same contaminated chain that’s been choking us for years.

Lee Thompson – Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project

Sources

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