Hino to Hike Output in SE Asia

Toyota Motor Corp.'s Hino Motors unit says it will invest 11.5 billion yen ($146 million) to build trucks and buses in Malaysia and assemble engines in Indonesia.

Hino is forming a 3.5 billion-yen ($44 million) Malaysian joint venture with MBM Resources Bhd to begin making vehicles in the first half of 2014. The Japanese company will own 58% of the venture and MBMR will hold the balance.

The factory, which will have annual capacity of 10,000 units, will produce vehicles for the local market and for export to other Asian countries. The plant initially will use Japan-made components.

The venture will take over existing Malaysian production of Hino trucks from a local assembler. The country ranked third among Hino's global markets with 6,000 units sold in the fiscal year ended in March. The company expects to sell 7,700 trucks in Malaysia in the current fiscal year.

Hino also plans to open an 8 billion-yen ($102 million) engine plant in Indonesia during the current fiscal year with eventual capacity of 70,000 units. The company already makes trucks and buses in West Java, Indonesia.

The company currently builds almost all its engines in Japan.