Hino Motors, Ltd.

Hino Motors, Ltd. (日野自動車, Hino Jidōsha), commonly known as simply Hino, TYO: 7205 is a manufacturer of diesel trucks, buses, and other vehicles based in Tokyo, Japan. For the last 32-years the company has been the leading producer of medium and heavy-duty diesel trucks in Japan. It is a member of the Toyota Group.

History

The company traces its roots back to the founding of Tokyo Gas Industry Company in 1910 (today it is two companies; Tokyo Gas Company and Tokyo Electric Power; TG&E). It produced its first motor vehicle in 1913, the Model TGE "A-Type" truck. In 1937 TG&E merged its automobile division with that of Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. and Kyodo Kokusan K.K. to form Tokyo Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., with TG&E as a shareholder. Four years later the company changed its name to Diesel Motor Industry Co., Ltd. which would eventually become Isuzu Motors Limited.

The following year (1942), the new entity of Hino Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. spun itself out from Diesel Motor Industry Co., Ltd., and the Hino name was born. Following the end of World War II, the company had to stop producing large diesel engines for marine applications, and with the signing of the treaty, the company dropped the "Heavy" from its name and formally concentraded on the heavy-duty trailer-trucks, buses and diesel engines markets, as Hino Industry Co., Ltd.