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Ogiso, designated chief technology officer of Archion and current CEO of Hino Motors; Deppen, designated CEO of Archion and current CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso; and Laligi, designated CFO of Archion and current CFO of Mistubishi Fuso. (Daimler Truck)

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Daimler Truck and Toyota Motor Corp. on Oct. 9 announced that their manufacturing joint venture will be known as Archion.

The companies in June finalized plans to merge their medium-duty truck operations; Daimler’s Mitsubishi Fuso and Toyota’s Hino Motors both manufacture cabover models, while Hino also builds standard cab trucks. The merger deal was first announced in May 2023.

Hino sold 7,447 Class 4-8 trucks in the U.S. in 2024, according to Wards Intelligence data. Fuso stopped selling new trucks in the U.S. and Canada in 2020.

Daimler is the parent company of heavy-duty truck manufacturers Freightliner and Western Star as well as Class 4-5 medium-duty electric truck maker Rizon.

The joint venture partners aim to each hold a 25% stake in the JV, with the remaining shares set to be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s prime market for large corporations. The companies have named current Mitsubishi Fuso CEO Karl Deppen to the same position at the joint venture, which will commence operations on April 1, 2026.

“Today we take the next step to bring our shared vision to life: with Archion, we aim to ‘deliver the future of commercial mobility’ for the benefit of our customers and all stakeholders,” Deppen said.

“With the strong brands Fuso and Hino, we will provide superior products and solutions for our customers and their needs. Archion will implement an effective governance model to build trust by promoting transparency, compliance and improving financial performance,” he added.

In their latest update on plans for the JV, the partners said Satoshi Ogiso — currently CEO of Hino Motors — will be chief technical officer at Archion, while Mitsubishi Fuso Chief Financial Officer Hetal Laligi will take on the same role at the venture.

“Our financial ambition for the new group is rooted in a clear strategy: unlocking the full potential of this integration by realizing synergies and growth opportunities, while continuously working to improve the standalone performance of both companies,” Laligi said.

The combined company will have more than 40,000 employees.

Five Japanese truck production sites will be consolidated by the end of 2028 into three locations: the Kawasaki, Koga and Nitta plants.

Hino’s Hamura plant is to be transferred to Toyota, a decision made public in June. Mitsubishi Fuso’s Nakatsu plant operations will be consolidated at the Kawasaki plant.

Archion is set to pursue an integrated platform as the main competitiveness and cost-cutting strategy. Heavy-, medium- and light-duty models from both brands will be utilized.

The JV will develop a range of zero-emission vehicles, including hydrogen fuel cell electric trucks.

Archion will lean on Daimler Truck and Toyota’s existing and future development of hydrogen fuel cell technology, the partners said.

Toyota debuted the latest generation of its fuel cell technology, the Toyota Gen 3 FC system, in North America at the Advanced Clean Transportation 2025 Expo in April. The system was unveiled in February.

Daimler Truck is a partner alongside fellow truck-making giant Volvo Group in fuel cell technology developer Cellcentric and is developing the Mercedes-Benz GenH2 Truck in Europe.

Toyota is also a major shareholder of Isuzu, which sold 22,806 Class 3-7 trucks in the U.S. in 2024, Wards data show.

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