Hino signs deal with Scania

Hino signs deal with Scania

TOKYO: Hino Motors Ltd of Japan and Sweden's Scania said on Monday they had signed a cooperation pact aimed at filling out their truck line-ups and sharing the high development costs of eco-friendly technology.

Areas of cooperation under current consideration include the selling of Scania tractor-trucks in Japan under the Hino brand, the use of Hino engines in some Scania vehicles and the exchange of emission-control technology.

The first seeds of cooperation are expected to bear fruit around 2004 or 2005 and long-term, the two hope to expand their ties with the development of truck sales in growing markets like South East Asia and China.

"We are not going to go anywhere just in Japan. Looking at emerging markets, we can go global with Scania, which doesn't have medium-duty trucks," Hino president Tadaaki Jagawa told a news conference.

Hino, which is 50 percent owned by Toyota Motor Corp, is for instance looking at the U.S. market while Scania is not, he added.

Both companies also stressed that the pact did not include a capital alliance between the firms. -- Reuters