Global automakers are finding the 20% plus growth in the Indian commercial vehicle market irresistible. After Volvo, Daimler, Man Truck & Buses and Scania, next big global CV brand to be seen on the Indian highways will be the Hino brand from Toyota. This will be second coming for the company after their joint venture, DCM Toyota, ended in India almost two decades ago. Hino is the largest manufacturer of heavy- and medium-duty trucks in Japan and sells over one lakh units of Hino-brand trucks and buses a year in overseas markets.

The 102-year-old Hino Motors, a Toyota Group company, is firming up plans for setting up a manufacturing base in India. Hino is into medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks and buses. The company did make an entry into India in 2008. Hino Motors Sales India, a 65:35 joint venture between Hino Motors Japan and Marubeni Corporation of Japan, has set up its corporate office in Mumbai. Hino imports completely-built units into India from Hino Thailand. Hino Motors has put 300 trucks on Indian roads but the Indian operations was hit because of supply constraints, first because of the Tsunami in Japan, which affected Hino’s supplies globally, and yet again with the floods in Thailand in 2011, too affected imports of trucks to India. The aggregates for the CV now come from Japan and is assembled in Thailand and then exported as CBU to India, making best use of the FTA between Japan-Thailand and Thailand-India.

But, now with supplies restored, Hino Motors India is now gathering momentum and preparing for scaling up operations in India. There has been a change in the leadership at the India operations with Minoru Fujiwara taking over as managing director of Hino Motors India, about a month ago.

According to Shirish Kulkarni, dealer principal & director of DSK Toyota, the recently appointed dealer for Hino for the entire state of Maharashtra, the Hino India MD, Fujiwara has said that they will be setting up a manufacturing base in India by 2015, and they were identifying the right location to house their manufacturing operations, and were also talking to potential partners for the same. Kulkarni said his company, the R4,000-crore DSK Group, was keen on partnering with Hino with a minority stake just like the Kirloskars have in the Toyota Kirloskar JV. ?We have a land bank of around 800 acres in and around Pune and we can offer land. We have expressed our interest to Hino and are awaiting their response,? Kulkarni said. He reckons the investments to start off would have to be in the region of R300 crore to R500 crore for bringing in CKD units and then later start full assembly with the engine, gear box and transmission system coming from Japan.

Hino Motors India spokesperson Abhay Tingle (company secretary and senior manager of finance) said Hino Motors was 100% sure of setting up manufacturing operations in India and will not restrict to trading as it has done so far. ?It is never too late to enter a growing market,? Tingle said about their delayed entry into the Indian market.

Hino Motors Japan is studying the Indian market closely and their model is different as they were looking at the premium segment in India, Tingle said. Hino is working out investment plans but these have not been finalised and were confidential in nature, he said, so they could not disclose the timeline or size of the project now or the destination for their investment.

About talks with potential partners in India, Tingle said a final call has yet to be taken and for this, Marubeni as a JV partner was important as they have been operating in India for many years and are familiar with the Indian market and business environment. ?We will take the help of Indian partners while setting up the project in India,? Tingle said.

But, for now there was considerable interest in India for Hino’s products and dealer interest was encouraging and they are betting on Hino’s future growth plans in India, he said. With the opening of the DSK Hino dealership in Pune, Hino has eight dealerships in India and most of these are Toyota car dealers who have taken up the bus and CV dealerships too.

Hino is currently offering their medium-duty 500 series FM tippers for the mining and FL haulage range for coldchains, refrigerated vans and logistics segment. Four buses (380 HP 45 seater ) from Hino are carrying out trial with intercity bus operators. Two of these buses are with Neeta Travels, who is a buyer of Volvo and Mercedes luxury buses, is plying these Hino buses in the Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Goa routes. Hino is exploring to bring its premium bus range, S’Elega to India.Hino also has a bus building subsidiary called J-Bus which could follow Hino into India.