Toyota, Daimler near merger of truck units

TOKYO: Toyota Motor unit Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus, a subsidiary of Germany's Daimler Truck, are moving to finalise a merger agreement, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday.

The two auto groups aim to establish a holding company for the truck units and list it on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Prime market in April 2026, the report stated, without disclosing its source.

The companies agreed in May 2023 to merge the truck operations by the end of 2024. In February 2024, the final deal was postponed indefinitely.

The pair have said that while their sales organisations globally will remain separate, they will pursue joint development, procurement and production. They plan to keep their brands separately overseas, a Mitsubishi Fuso spokesperson said.

The tie-up highlights the need for greater collaboration in the automotive space as makers of trucks face pressures not unlike those squeezing makers of SUVs and motorbikes amid the shift to new technology.

The companies are expected to finalise the merger agreement as early as May, Nikkei said, adding that an antitrust review by the Japan Fair Trade Commission is close to completion.

Post-transaction, a new holding company would fully own both Hino Motors and Mitsubishi Fuso, according to the report.

In separate statements both Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso said that nothing had been decided yet about the final agreement of their deal, the timing of the listing or the investment ratio of the holding company.

Both truck makers have a large exposure to international markets. More than two-thirds of Hino's global vehicle sales of around 95,000 units were overseas over the first nine months of fiscal 2024, according to company data.

Between 60% and 70% of Mitsubishi Fuso's vehicle sales were in markets other than Japan, the company spokesperson said.