Honda Passport

Honda Passport

The Honda Passport was a mid-size SUV produced by Isuzu, released in 1993, as Honda's first entry in the truck market for the United States, and only sold in the United States. Built and designed solely by Isuzu, who sold it as the Rodeo, it was seen as a "quick fix" entry into the growing SUV market in the United States. It was essentially a SUV wagon version of the Isuzu pickup truck, similar to the Jeep Cherokee and Mitsubishi Montero Sport. It was nicely appointed, but reviews called the design a bit behind the times as crossover and more refined trucks such as the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee which were not directly based on pickup truck platforms evolved.

The Passport was part of a growing partnership between Isuzu and Honda in the 1990s, in which Isuzu supplied Honda with SUVs (in addition to producing Passports, Isuzu also provided Honda with Trooper SUVs to be sold as the Acura SLX) and Honda supplied Isuzu with cars - in particular the Isuzu Gemini (Honda Civic; Japan-market only) and Isuzu Oasis (Honda Odyssey). It sold quite well in the regions of the US such as the Pacific Northwest against competitors such as the truck-based Nissan Pathfinder. However Honda dealers today exclude the Passport (and hybrid Insight) from guaranteed trade-in value promotions, implying that the resale value is weaker than most other Hondas as many buyers recognize that it is a rebadged Isuzu.

The Honda version was discontinued after 2002, making way for the mid-size Pilot and the compact Element crossover SUVs. This loss of market would factor into Isuzu discontinuing not only the Rodeo, but also the Axiom and sales of all Isuzu-designed passenger vehicles in the US.

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