Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation and Hino Motors Ltd. formed a holding company, ARCHION, the companies announced recently.
ARCHION was formed according to the agreement between Daimler Truck AG and Toyota Motor Corporation. It will commence operations April 1.
Fuso, Hino, Toyota and Daimler say ARCHION embodies "the shared aspiration of [the companies] to contribute to a prosperous society through mobility." The new company will allow Fuso and Hino to form an integrated platform strategy to enhance competitiveness, improve efficiency and enable faster product launches.
ARCHION will consolidate Fuso and Hino truck production from five sites to three: Kawasaki Plant in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa, Japan; Koga Plant, Koga City, Ibaraki, Japan; and Nitta Plant, Ota City, Gunma, Japan. Hino's Hamura facility will be transferred to Toyota and the Fuso Nakatsu Plant will be brought to Kawasaki.
[RELATED: Daimler Trucks reduces sales expectations, reports Q2 earnings]
ARCHION named Satoshi Ogiso, CEO of Hino, as chief technology officer and executive director. Hetal Laligi was named chief financial officer and representative director. Laligi is CFO at Fuso. The company, which will be based in Tokyo, also named Karl Deppen representative director and CEO; Christian Herrmann, non-executive director; and Kiyotaka Ise, non-executive director.
"Today, we take the next step to bring our shared vision to life," Deppen says. "With ARCHION, we aim to 'deliver the future of commercial mobility' for the benefit of our customers and all stakeholders. With the strong brands Fuso and Hino, we will provide superior products and solutions for our customers and their needs. ARCHION will implement an effective governance model to build trust by promoting transparency, compliance and improving financial performance."
