Following the news that BYD Auto Industry and Hino Motors have signed a joint venture (JV) agreement to set up a new company for commercial battery electric vehicles (BEVs) development,
Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:
“The move is a major positive development in the Asian electric commercial vehicle market, which is currently in a growing stage. With electric passenger cars becoming more established products in Asian countries such as China, South Korea and Japan, and with growing uptake in other parts of the region, commercial vehicles are emerging as the next battleground for the top regional OEMs such as Hyundai and Toyota, which are investing significantly in the next-gen zero-emission commercial vehicles.
“The establishment of JV follows the strategic alliance signed between BYD and Hino in April 2020 for the commercial BEV development. This also follows the establishment of JV between BYD and Hino’s parent company Toyota Motor Corporation (BYD Toyota EV Technology Co., Ltd.), established this year for the joint research and development of BEVs; and Toyota-Hino collaboration announced in March 2020 to co-develop heavy-duty fuel cell truck. The 50-50 joint venture between both the parties will manufacture buses and trucks for the Asian market. The venture, which will be established in China by 2020, aims to launch vehicles under Hino brand by 2025.
“The recent developments form part of Hino’s parent Toyota’s aggressive EV strategy in the Asian market. Strengthening charging infrastructure, growing consumer trust in BEVs, demand incentives and the global demand will support the production of electric CVs in the region. The joint venture is a major win-win for both BYD and Hino. Apart from sharing development costs, the JV will amalgamate battery and EV manufacturing expertise of BYD with the scalability of the Hino and Toyota in Asia and across globe, respectively.”
