Hino to launch truck joint venture in RI

Hino to launch truck joint venture in RI

TOKYO (AFP): Japan's largest truck maker, Hino Motors Co. Ltd., plans to launch a joint venture company (JVC) in Indonesia early next year to manufacture and sell trucks with Japanese and Indonesian partners, a spokesman said yesterday.

The venture, capitalized at 2.2 billion yen ($19 million), would be controlled 51 percent by Indonesia's Salim group, 39 percent by Hino and the remaining 10 percent by Sumitomo Corp. of Japan.

"The three partners have already reached agreement," said the spokesman for the truck unit of Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corp.

"We are now waiting for the Indonesian government's official permission, which is expected early next year," the spokesman said.

The joint venture is to build a new factory in the suburbs of Jakarta as soon as they receive permission to manufacture trucks for commercial use, he said.

Hino has an Indonesia joint venture making engines and transmissions, but it has relied on two Salim group companies, National Assembler and National Motor, for assembly and sales.

Hino has a market share of 28 percent in Indonesia and it wants to strengthen its position against Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. which has an estimated 40 percent market share, he said.