Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso to merge
- Hino Motors is a subsidiary of the Toyota group specializing in trucks (medium and heavy utility vehicles) and buses. Mitsubishi Fuso is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks also specializing in trucks (medium and heavy utility vehicles) and buses. This is the former truck branch of Mitsubishi Motors acquired by Daimler Trucks in 2005.
- The two producers, Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso, are therefore competitors, but their production volume is still too low to compete with the major truck makers worldwide. Thus, in 2022, Hino produced 175,096 vehicles, including 127,842 in Japan and 47,254 outside Japan. Mitsubishi Fuso represents 15% of Daimler Trucks' production, i.e. approximately 80,000 vehicles in 2022.
- Within the Daimler Trucks group, Mitsubishi Fuso therefore represents a small part and a slightly offbeat range when it is compared to the much higher sold models from Mercedes or Freightliner brands.
- The German producer has therefore decided to conclude an agreement with the Toyota group to merge Mitsubishi Fuso with Hino Motors, which will create a Japanese leader in heavy utility vehicles capable of being competitive at a global scale. This group will surely be under Toyota control, even if today nothing has been formalized either by Toyota or by Daimler Trucks.
- Toyota and Daimler are aiming for a production of 300,000 units per year for the new company which will achieve significant economies of scale thanks to synergies in the technological, industrial and commercial field. The name of the new company will be chosen in 2024, when the definitive agreement will be signed between the two trucks makers.