Isuzu Motors' history began in 1916, when Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd. planned a cooperation with the Tokyo Gas and Electric Industrial Company to build automobiles. The next step was taken in 1918, when a technical cooperation with Wolseley Motors Limited was initiated, yielding exclusive rights to the production and sales of Wolseley vehicles in East Asia from knock-down kits. In 1919 came the first ever Japan-produced passenger car, a Wolseley model, the Fifteen A9 15/40 НР at the Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipyard at the Fukagawa Factory. The Wolseley sourced CP truck followed two years later; 550 of these were built by 1927. In 1923 Japan was devastated by the Kanto earthquake which made the fledgling transportation infrastructure that was heavily reliant on government-owned railroads unusable due to the twisted tracks. Heavy construction vehicles were imported from the United States companies GMC and Ford to aid in recovery and reconstruction, and the company sought to contribute by producing locally built construction and heavy duty vehicles. In 1927 the company introduced its 2-ton load capacity "Sumida P-type truck" equipped with an A6 engine and a 1-ton vehicle "Sumida M-type No. 1 bus" equipped with an A4 engine. The name "sumida" was used from the Sumida River as the factory at Fukagawa was close by.