Hino Expands in SE Asia With Malaysia Truck Plant

Truck maker Hino will build a ¥3.45 billion ($34.1 million), 10,000-unit-a year manufacturing plant in Malaysia, due to open in the first half of 2014.

Hino Motors Malaysia is changing its name to Hino Motors Sales Malaysia and the plant will be a stand-alone company, operating as Hino Motors Mfg. Malaysia.

The plant is a 58-42 joint venture between Hino and MBM Resources, which owns 42% of Hino Malaysia. It will have about 300 employees.

Hino says in a statement it has seen increasing sales in Malaysia in recent years, and it is positioning this market as its third pillar in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and Thailand.

“While production in Malaysia was being conducted on a consignment basis, the company has decided to launch a manufacturing subsidiary and switch to in-house production in response to growing sales,” it says.

This will allow Hino to secure sufficient supply capability and establish a supply readiness equipped to respond more flexibly to market needs such as specification and lead time.

Hino already has plants in the region in Thailand and Indonesia.

“Moving forward, as Indonesia and Thailand grow to become regional core production bases, ties with both of these bases will be strengthened to optimize the production and supply structure within the region,” it says.

Hino Motors President Yasuhiko Ichihashi tells the government’s Bernama news agency the plant will manufacture the full range of Hino products – light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses – for the Malaysian market.

Hino will end its deal with Assembly Services, which has been its assembler since 1984.

Hino had Malaysian sales of 6,433 units last year and leads the commercial-vehicle segment with a 34.6% share of the market.

In neighboring Thailand, meanwhile, Volvo Group says it will spend TB5 billion ($158 million) to expand its Bangkok truck-assembly plant and its nationwide sales and service network.

CEO Olof Persson tells The Nation newspaper during his first visit to Thailand that after the TB2 billion ($63.6 million) plant expansion it will build vehicles for Asia, especially UD trucks, Japan's heritage heavy-duty truck brand.

“UD Truck will help Volvo Group gain more share of the heavy-duty truck market,” he says.