No Lie: Isuzu Giving Its Dealers $2 Million to Spend at the Mall

It’s a $2-million spending spree that might render Joe Isuzu speechless.

About 200 of the nation’s hottest Isuzu dealers will converge at South Coast Plaza Saturday and Sunday for a modern-day version of Supermarket Sweepstakes.

The dealers will be spending an average of $10,000--some as much as $50,000--as part of an incentive program offered by American Isuzu Motors, the Japanese auto maker’s U.S. marketing arm based in the City of Industry.

And for the dealers, there will be no taking home the leftover cash. They’ve been instructed to spend it--or lose it.

American Isuzu has offered the program for several years as a way of rewarding its top dealers.

Jim Henwood, South Coast Plaza’s general manager, said the mall tried to lure the Isuzu dealers three years ago but lost out to Trump Plaza in New York. Another past destination for the Isuzu dealers was Nieman Marcus’ flagship store in Dallas.

This year, Henwood said, South Coast Plaza lured the group with the help of the Nordstrom department store chain, which has a store at the mall.

“They wanted to give the impression that their dealers are being taken to the finest retail establishments in the U.S.,” Henwood said.

An American Isuzu official said no one was immediately available for comment.

Henwood said South Coast retailers have been told a $2-million windfall is headed their way. Clerks have been told to watch for people wearing Isuzu lapel pins and carrying special credit cards. The cards will be issued to each dealer and will allow them to charge an amount equal to their incentive payment, plus 10%, in case they run over their allotment and want to pay out-of-pocket.

South Coast Plaza officials plan to roll out the red carpet for the group. The mall will host a reception for the 200 dealers and, after their hard day of shopping, provide them with free foot massages.