Here comes Hino

Toyota Motor Corporation’s commercial vehicle division, Hino Motors, will drive into the Indian bus market this September. Hino Motors Sales India (HMSI) will be launching its high-end RM series of intercity bus coaches that would compete against the likes of Volvo and Mercedes. While the bus chassis would be imported as CBUs (completely built units) from the company’s manufacturing facility in Thailand, the bus body would be built in India. HMSI is a joint venture between Hino Motors Japan, which holds 65% stake, and Marubeni Corporation, which holds the remaining stake. Speaking at the launch of HMSI’s first sales, support and service outlet, Cauvery Motors, in Bangalore, Hiroshi Nakamura, MD of HMSI, said, “The bus bodies would be built by JCBL in Chandigarh.” The company on Wednesday launched trucks — the Hino 500 series range of FL and FM 6x2 haulage and 6x4 tippers. Like in buses, the truck chassis would be imported from Thailand. For the tipper trucks the bodies would be done by Kailash Vahan in Pune, while another Jabalpur-based body manufacturer would build the bodies for its mixers. “By the end of this fiscal we are looking at selling between 700 and 1,000 trucks,” said Nakamura. The company has got orders for 10 tippers trucks. Marubeni is talking to a few local finance companies to set up a captive finance arm for insurance leasing. Cauvery Motors, part of the Advaith Group, has invested over Rs 5 crore in the sales and support facility.