Hino Motors has officially opened the company’s new plant in Mineral Wells, West Virginia.

Hino has relocated and consolidated its existing production processes at the new West Virginia plant to achieve even greater efficiency improvements. In the future Hino plans to transfer the production of truck cabs for the North American market – currently done in Japan – to this plant.

The 378,000sqm plant currently has 470 staff. The first trucks came off the production line in June, and the production capacity of the new plant is 24,000 units per year (with a double shift). The facility will build all of Hino‘s Class 6, 7 and 8 conventional trucks, including the newly released Class 7 and 8 XL Series.

“Hino is committed to building its trucks and products in the market it operates in,” said Hino CEO Yoshio Shimo. “We have committed 100 million dollars in our US operations, which includes the construction of our new West Virginia plant, and created 250 jobs. I am excited to announce an additional commitment of 40 million dollars in investment to meet increased demand and product configurations and 250 additional jobs, as part of our effort to enhance the foundations that will underlie our further growth in the US. Hino remains committed to taking active actions that will enable us to contribute to the growth of the US and the state of West Virginia.”