Hino expelled from Toyota-led commercial vehicle partnership

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp said today that Hino Motors had been expelled from a commercial vehicle partnership which the Japanese automaker leads following the truckmaker's widening scandal over falsification of engine data.

The partnership was established in April 2021 by Toyota, Hino and Isuzu Motors to facilitate technology development for commercial vehicles.

Suzuki Motor Corp and Daihatsu joined in July the same year.

Hino responded to the expulsion with an admission of wrongdoing.

"We first will acknowledge and reflect deeply upon the seriousness of the misconduct we have committed and its root causes, and correct what we should correct," it said in a statement today.

"We need to return to our origins as a commercial vehicle manufacturer that helps people and goods get where they need to go, and behave resolutely to become reborn as a company that is once again needed by society."