Thursday, July 14, 2005

Jerry Zolynsky / Associated Press President of Hino Motor Manufacturing Hideichiro Chikahiro, left, Governor Jennifer Granholm, and Senior Manufacturing Director of Hino Motors LTD.

Gov. Granholm courts Japanese truckmaker

She welcomes Hino office to Farmington Hills, will pitch state during trip to Japan.

By Christine Tierney / The Detroit News

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FARMINGTON HILLS -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm, celebrating the opening of a sales and service office for Toyota Motor Corp.'s truck subsidiary, Hino Motors Ltd., hopes to convince the truckmaker to establish manufacturing operations in the state during a trip to Japan later this month.

"I'm going to be pitching everyone to manufacture in Michigan," Granholm said Wednesday at Hino's new office in Farmington Hills.

"If you want a skilled work force and proximity to potential customers and automakers, this is the place to be," she said.

Hino, which is 50.1 percent-owned by Toyota, said last October that it would establish its U.S. sales and service headquarters in Michigan, adding to the company's investments in the state. A partly-owned Toyota supplier, Aisin Seiki Co. Ltd., opened a vehicle proving ground in Fowlerville last year.

Altogether, Toyota and its affiliates, which include supplier Denso Corp., employ about 7,000 people in Michigan.

On July 22, Granholm will travel to Japan and try to secure a prize investment -- a Toyota or Hino assembly plant. That would create thousands of jobs, helping to offset declining employment at Detroit's automakers.

Toyota, whose U.S. market share has risen to 13 percent from 8.7 percent five years ago, is now building a truck assembly plant in San Antonio that will initially employ 2,000.

It is finalizing plans to build a second assembly plant in Canada, but still needs more production capacity in North America.

Toyota has already established a research center and design studio in Ann Arbor, leading a wave of Asian automotive investment.

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co., and Suzuki Motor Ltd. are establishing or expanding operations in the state.

The investments bolster southeast Michigan's claim to be North America's high tech automotive hub.

With Granholm's help, Toyota is purchasing a state-owned, 690-acre plot in York Township to expand research and engineering facilities in the state, tap Michigan's wealth of automotive talent, and speed up development of vehicles for the U.S. market.

The state estimates that the expansion of Toyota's research center would create 677 jobs in Michigan, including 400 at the center, with salaries averaging $81,000 a year, according to state records.

Hino's arrival in Michigan initially will create 30 jobs, state officials said. Michigan has extended credits for new employee job training.

Last October, Hino began making trucks in North America for the first time, at a Toyota facility in Long Beach, Calif. It is building Hino Class 4-7 trucks designed specially for the North American market and plans to produce 10,000 trucks annually by 2007.

By 2010, Hino aims to sell 30,000 trucks a year in North America, up from just under 6,000 in 2004.

Hino is building a parts factory in Marion, Ark., and it is expected to construct another assembly plant in North America to support its ambitious growth goals.

Last year Hino generated $10 billion in revenues on sales of around 100,000 trucks worldwide.

You can reach Christine Tierney at (313) 222-1463 or ctierney@detnews.com.