TOKYO, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Hino Motors Ltd , a trucking unit of Toyota Motor Corp , said on Thursday it expects its truck and bus sales to grow 2.6 percent this year.
Hino, the nation's healthiest truck maker, expects solid growth in overseas markets to lift total sales to 82,500 units in calendar 2004.
It expects overseas sales to grow 26.6 percent, but sees domestic sales falling 13.7 percent.
Japan's truck market has been considered too small for the nation's four makers since the bursting of the nation's economic bubble in the early 1990s. But the sector has zoomed ahead recent months as the introduction of stricter emission controls boosts replacement demand.
Hino posted a 273 percent rise in net profit to 13.95 billion yen ($131.3 million) in April-September, the first half of its business year, with sales jumping 29 percent to 502.34 billion yen. ($1=106.25 Yen)