Hino Motors Opens California Truck Plant

LONG BEACH, Calif. October 19, 2004; The AP reported that Hino Motor Manufacturing opened a new southern California truck assembly plant Tuesday as part of parent company Toyota Motor Corp.'s effort to expand market share in the United States.

The plant was constructed in part of a Toyota parts manufacturing facility. Hino Motor expects to build 2,000 trucks by March and 10,000 trucks per year by 2006.

Currently, half the truck, including the engine and the cab, are imported from Japan, with most of the remaining parts made in the United States. Some manufacturing, including frame rails, will be done in Long Beach, according to Derek Kaufman, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Hino Trucks.

Trucks from the plant will be shipped to the company's 112 dealers in the United States and Canada. Hino plans to expand to about 150 dealers by March.

About 50 people will work at the assembly plant, which is making about five trucks per day. The company declined to say how many people the plant will employ when it hits full capacity in 2006.

Hino's commercial medium duty trucks have a small market share, but the company recently revamped its product line and plans a major marketing push in the United States, Kaufman said.

The company is also building a parts plant in Arkansas.