‘Challenging times ahead’ for Isuzu as emissions fines begin while nothing electrified confirmed for D-Max or MU-X

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Few car companies would want to be in Isuzu Ute Australia’s shoes right now.

It may be our ninth best-selling brand, but Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) is kryptonite to the D-Max ute and MU-X SUV, as it punishes vehicles producing high levels of CO2.

Diesel engines and heavy utes and 4WDs are typically the most polluting, and unfortunately for Isuzu, that’s the extent of its model line-up. 

“There are certainly challenging times ahead,” Mr Junichi Kubo, president of Isuzu Motors international operations acknowledged to Australian media this week.

There’s a palpable sense the brand quickly needs electrification somewhere in its line-up, yet its full electric D-Max ute — soon to go on sale in right-hand-drive UK — remains “under consideration” for Australia, but nothing more.

“We want to be careful to ensure that it (the EV ute) is not forced upon the customer,” an Isuzu Ute Australia spokesperson told Chasing Cars. “And our market’s general perception towards EVs is probably delayed compared to Europe and the UK.”

Not least when it comes to our ever-popular 4WD utes and SUVs. EV versions? They’ll end the weekend, won’t they?

Even if this is believed, from this year, monetary fines are levied at each model sold with CO2 levels above NVES targets, unless offset against sales of low-emission vehicles from the same manufacturer.

Rivals Toyota and Ford therefore reduce fines against sales of HiLuxes and Rangers with their EVs, plug-ins and hybrids, but Isuzu doesn’t have such luxury. In Aussie Isuzu showrooms, the electrified model cupboard is bare.

Surely this can’t continue. 

NVES emissions targets get stricter as the decade progresses, so by 2029, Isuzu’s current MU-X with 3.0L turbo-diesel engine (200g/km CO2 emissions) would attract an approximate $10,000 fine. Rest assured that cost would have to be passed on to the customer.

The Isuzu Ute Australia spokesperson said the fine on each D-Max and MU-X sold in 2025 is only in the “hundreds of dollars”. There are less stringent emissions targets for commercial vehicles (utes) and body-on-frame SUVs towing over 3000kg, lessening the blow. 

But fines will soon increase.

Isuzu’s opening salvo is dropping the 1.9-litre turbo-diesel engine found in its fleet specials, replacing it with a 2.2-litre version mated to an eight-speed auto gearbox. This new donk drinks less diesel and emits less CO2, and Isuzu hopes will be a more viable alternative to the more polluting (but substantially more popular) 3.0-litre turbo-diesel.

It’s also, for the first time, fitting an idle stop-start (ISS) system to all its vehicles from this October. It’s tech that many buyers find annoying and undesirable – hence why it’s not been introduced before – but it’s a winner to battle NVES.

According to official numbers, the ISS drops the D-Max’s 3.0-litre engine’s fuel consumption from 8.0L/100km to 7.1L/100km, and CO2 emissions from 207g/km to 187g/km. The new 2.2L offers 6.6L/100km and 174g/km. 

Excellent improvements, and the owner can simply switch off ISS if they choose.

In Thailand, where Isuzus are built, the outgoing 1.9-litre powertrain is offered with a 48-volt mild hybrid system, much like the one seen in Toyota’s HiLux. 

Should the mild-hybrid system make its way onto the new 2.2-litre, that’d be another winner in NVES world. But again, nothing’s confirmed.

Since the BYD Shark 6 landed last year, appetite for plug-in hybrid utes (upon which NVES looks favourably) has surged. Year-to-date, almost 13,000 Shark PHEVs have shifted. That makes it our fourth best-selling 4×4 ute, only some 2000 sales behind the third-place D-Max.

While no Isuzu PHEV looks forthcoming, there is the full EV D-Max in its arsenal. The UK’s emissions standards are markedly stricter than Australia’s, hence its confirmation of going on sale there, likely in customer hands early in 2026.

But good grief it’s expensive. A UK D-Max EV costs from £59,995 ($123,000) before tax, while the equivalent diesel D-Max is from £36,755 ($75,000). Aussie D-Max diesels are a bit cheaper, but it’d still make the EV version likely with a price tag around $100,000 locally.

That’s a big hurdle. Even if the dual motor greenie promises proper ute capabilities such as 3500kg towing, 1000kg+ payload, 210mm ground clearance, 600mm wading and a Rough Terrain Mode. Range of only 262km is less appealing, and that’ll take a hit when the EV’s asked to do proper ute things.

Even so, there’d be appetite from fleet buyers for such a capable EV ute with zero tailpipe emissions from a long-established brand, even with a chunky sticker price. 

Given the harsher NVES fines landing in 2026, it’d be fair to assume Isuzu’s going to have to deliver a multi-pronged response, with mild hybrid and EV versions dropping into the line-up.

What is worrying is still no confirmation of any electrified Isuzu for Australia. The clock’s ticking, and the NVES’s grip around the throat is about to get tighter still.