Bullish on Indian Market
In spite of the severe blow from the disaster in Japan and Thailand, Hino Motors is once again growing in the Indian market and has chalked out aggressive plans to expand its product matrix to capture the market.

"We have a very ambitious plan for India and shall do everything required to fulfill the ever-growing demand of Indian customers. Currently, the trucks are imported from its global facilities but Hino is actively working on developing a vendor network in India. Keeping in view the quality of products manufactured by Indian vendors which meet international standards, we intend to source the components for other countries also from India, in order to economise on procurement and further fine-tune our product pricing," says Susumu Myokan, Director & Vice President, Hino Motors India.

Myokan adds, "Hino trucks have been preferred by the Indian customer, thanks to the product features related to safety and economy of operations, besides virtually hundred-per-cent fleet utilisation and efficiency. All these have been highly appreciated by our valued customers. Moreover, driving comfort with state-of-the-art air-conditioned and crash-tested cabin ensures safety of the drivers, make Hino models the best choice in the commercial vehicle segment."

From just a couple of Indian manufacturers till the end of the 90s, the Indian commercial vehicle industry is today home for more than an dozen global and domestic manufacturers. Practically all the global CV majors have set up or are in the process of launching their trucks and buses in India. They come up with their own strategy with some focusing on the mass market segment and others on specific niche applications.

According to Dinesh Chandra Upadhyay, General Manager - Marketing & Sales, Hino Motors India, Hino has tried to identify specific applications which have been hitherto not sufficiently addressed by other manufacturers. Upadhyay says, "We have seeded our trucks in the Indian market for specific applications, where we felt that customers have lots of pain points in the existing products. Some of these applications are tippers used in iron ore mining and trucks used in the cold chain transportation segment. Our products have been performing extremely well and have been able to successfully address all the pain points. We are now flooded with active enquiries from not only these segments but from other segments as well" Hino has sold over 300 trucks in India till date, 200 of which are tipper trucks and the balance used for other applications.

Hino had initially launched its 25-tonne 6x4 and 6x2 trucks. The company has chalked out a plan to gradually expand its product matrix and consistently capture the market in almost the entire range of products, like in other established markets worldwide.

Even though the disaster in Japan and Thailand, a major manufacturing base for Hino, severely impacted the production plans globally today, the company is enlarging its presence in the Indian market. The company entered the Indian market in 2009 by launching its trucks. It had set aggressive growth plans for the Indian market. Hino is once again sharpening its focus on the Indian market. Hino Motors India has used the last few years in conducting exhaustive study of various applications in the commercial vehicle segment and has understood the customer expectations and the shortfall therein. The study findings have led Hino India to primarily focus on highly demanding customers, appreciating value for money. Hino has identified specific segments, having maximum dissatisfaction points resulting in consequential loss of productivity. One such segment is the 25 T segment. Hino has the right product to address these areas and hence is catering to the requirements of selective applications and customer profile.

Hino tipper trucks have performed particularly well in the iron ore mining segment. Upadhyay says, "Yes, due to the fact that Hino tippers have addressed all the pain points in the existing models, there has been great demand for Hino tippers, mainly for applications having difficult working conditions and high anticipated productivity." The high performance Hino tippers have been in operation in the iron ore mines of Karnataka and Goa. The performance of these tippers has surpassed all parameters of the existing models, and they have been perceived as undisputed product leader for iron ore mining application. Customers have reposed their confidence in them by standardising Hino tippers for their future requirements in the vicinity. Hino has also had good success in the iron ore mines in Goa.

Lignite mining and transportation is yet another application, where Hino tippers have been perceived to be highly economical, besides improved productivity, low cost of maintenance and high life time value. Even in the road construction segment highly price sensitive, the Hino tipper has made inroad despite higher initial investment as it is best suited for the application, offering better productivity and economy of problem.

In the 6?2 haulage segment, the identified applications are cold chain, beverages and petroleum product transportation, which are highly demanding in terms of safety, timely delivery, turnaround time and reliability.

Hino Motors India has established sales and service facility at six different locations across India. Depending on the vehicle park it will expand the sales and service network once it is equipped to meet the challenges of mass market products in India. Hino dealers are providing very strong service support to its valued customers.

Says Upadhyay, "We fully appreciate the need for at site support for tippers and our service support for tipper market is second to none. We are proud to say that after the induction of Hino tippers, productivity loss due to unavailability of tippers on account of frequent failures and maintenance, etc, has gone down to almost zero".

Fujiwara sums it up on a positive note: "Our strength, as demonstrated globally, lies in the superiority of the product and consequent accrual of a bundle of benefits to the valued customers. Hino offers value for money, and hence we are absolutely confident of our success in India and are ready to face the healthy competition with other global players operating in India. We will keep pace meeting the other challenges in the fast growing market in India".