Toyota beginning journey into trucks in India

Despite commercial vehicle (CV) majors scaling back capacity and revising growth targets, Japanese auto major Toyota’s CV arm, Hino Motors, is in a hurry to kick off operations in India.

The auto major is doing a recce of manufacturing sites to set up a base here. And, in the interim, it has started importing vehicles from its Thai plant.

“India opened up its market for CV manufacturers a few years back. We did not want to delay our entry by setting up a manufacturing base first. Hence, we are rolling out trucks and buses from Thailand while scouting for manufacturing sites here,” said Hiroshi Nakamura, MD and CEO, Hino Motor Sales India.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Hino’s principal products comprise diesel trucks, buses and diesel engines. The company will introduce 6x2 trucks and 6x4 tippers immediately as completely built units, while the launch of an inter-city buses will follow in September.

“We will cater to the premium segment in India and compete with Volvo and Mercedes Benz,” said Amol J Sandil, executive vice-president, Hino Motor Sales India.
The mass CV segment in India is dominated by local players like Ashok Leyland and Tata Motors.

Hino targets to sell 700 trucks this fiscal, though no targets has been fixed for bus sales.
The Toyota arm is also homologating three Euro III compliant CRDi engines for launch in India. It’s exploring options of launching more products from its international portfolio including light commercial vehicles (LCVs).

The company is also working on increasing its localisation levels. “We are working with companies like Kailash Vahan Udyog and JCBL. Our trucks, for instance, are localised to the extent of 20% already,” added Sandil.

The company also plans to set up a captive finance arm in the country with its trading and logistics partner Marubeni Corporation. Hino is currently setting up service and dealership centres in nine states including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Maharashtra.