Last Thursday may well have been April Fools Day in western countries but in Japan the 1st April is New Years Day, at least for the accountants.
The start of the new financial year in Japan also signalled the completion of the marriage between Hino and Fus , with the new joint venture company, Archion coming into existence officially on that day.
The start of the new operation follows regulatory clearance, with Fuso stating last month that Japan’s Fair Trade Commission had approved the merger between it and Hino Motors under the Japanese Anti-Monopoly Act.
As part of previously announced integration measures in October last year, the companies have streamlined their domestic production network in Japan, reducing the number of truck manufacturing sites from five down to three.
Production for both brands is now concentrated at the Kawasaki Plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, the Koga Plant in Ibaraki Prefecture, and the Nitta Plant in Gunma Prefecture.
Although having already revealed the management structure of the new joint venture company some moths ago, Archion rolled out the new management team as part of the overall launch,
The management team is heavily weighted to former Daimler employees with German Karl Deppen in the role of president and CEO at Archion while his fellow Daimler executive Hetal Laligi is in charge of the purse strings as CFO of the new group.
Former Hino boss Satoshi Ogiso, was one of the few Hino or Toyota people to scope a leading role and he will be chief technical officer or CTO, following his tenure as boss at Hino during the embarrassing emission and fuel consumption fraud crisis. He will also sit on the new company’s board .
Hino has announced that Satyakam Arya will lead the Hino brand at the operating company level, becoming president and CEO of that brand, while European Daimler executive Franziska Cusumano takes the same role at the Fuso brand.
Karl Deppen said that by combining with strong Teams, the new company will be even better equipped to support customers and partners in Japan, Asia and the world.
“As the industry is undergoing severe transformation, we are confident that we can fully leverage our synergies and capabilities to create even better value for our stakeholders,” Deppen said.
Archion announced that it plans to integrate Hino and Fuso brands, by combining manufacturing and sales capabilities while working in collaboration with its key shareholders, Daimler Truck and the Toyota Group.
The group says it intends to focus on aligning development, procurement and production functions, alongside advancing ‘CASE-related’ initiatives, including zero-emission technologies such as fuel cells and autonomous driving.
