Motor Vehicles and Parts News
- Hino, Guangzhou Auto to produce trucks
Date: 10-Aug-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
JAPAN'S Hino Motors Ltd. will set up a truck production joint venture in China with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. to shore up its struggling operations in China, the Nikkei business daily reported Thursday.
The joint venture will invest up to 1.5 billion yuan (US$198 million) to build a factory outside the city of Guangzhou. Production of trucks and buses will start by 2010 with 2,000-3,000 units a year, which will be eventually raised to 20,000 units, the paper said.
Hino, the truck-making unit of Toyota Motor Corp., has been struggling in China, where cheap local competitors dominate the market. The company has already been producing buses in China through another local venture since 2000, but it has been making losses.
Hino said it has not made any specific decision yet, adding that the possibility of local truck production is being discussed as part of the Toyota group's overall production program in China.
Chinese authorities limit the number of local automakers each foreign company can tie up with. Hino and Toyota are treated as one company.
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