Scania and Hino have entered a strategic cooperation agreement aiming at a long-term business alliance.
Hino focuses on medium-duty trucks from 6 to 16 tonnes gross weight, with extensions into light trucks below 6 tonnes and heavy trucks mainly optimized for weights up to around 30 tonnes, since gross weights in Japan rarely exceed 28 tonnes. These market segments are covered with the three Dutro, Ranger, and Profia truck ranges. Hino's market share in the medium/heavy truck segment in Japan is 30%.
Scania exclusively manufactures heavy trucks with gross weights above 16 tonnes. Gross weights of 40 tonnes are common in Europe. Train weights of 55-60 tonnes or more are frequently used in other markets, in particular Scandinavia and southern Africa. Scania's market presence is strong in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Scania is also one of the strongest European heavy truck makes in Southeast Asia (except Japan) and the market leader in the heavy-construction segment of South Korea.
Both Hino and Scania produce several types of bus chassis for coach, intercity, and city applications. In both cases, due to the comparatively small volumes on the bus market, truck components must be used to achieve economy of scale.
The first step in the cooperation involves Scania tractor units, which will be marketed by Hino in Japan. Tractor units account for around 5,000 of the 45,000 heavy trucks that will be sold in Japan in 2002. Sales are still dominated by rigids (40,000), but the tractor market is gaining ground, especially at the heavy end. Under evaluation is the potential use of the Hino 7-liter engine in Scania trucks up to around 20 tonnes. This would enable higher productivity for some weight-sensitive applications, such as distribution and container haulage. An engine of this size would also be suitable for certain bus applications.