[citation needed] In 1942, a new company called Hino Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. was spun out from Diesel Motor Industry Co., Ltd. During World War II, Hino manufactured Type 1 Ho-Ha half-track and Type 1 Ho-Ki armored personnel carrier for the Imperial Japanese Army.

Following treaties signed at the end of World War II, the company had to stop producing large diesel engines for marine applications, so the company dropped the "Heavy" from its name and formally concentrated on the heavy-duty trailer-truck, buses and diesel engines markets, as Hino Industry Co., Ltd.

An eight-tonner, this was considerably larger than existing Japanese trucks which had rarely been built for more than 6,000 kg (13,230 lb) payload.

[5] In 1952, the company introduced the B10/30 (Blue Ribbon) on a European style forward control cabin,[4] a first for Japanese manufacturers.

That year, Hino entered the private car market, by manufacturing Renaults under licence, and in 1961 it started building its own Contessa 900 sedan with an 893cc rear-mounted engine, and a pickup truck called the Hino Briska[4] with the Contessa engine slightly enlarged and installed in the front with rear wheel drive.

In October 1966, following some pressure for industry consolidation from the Japanese government, Hino and Toyota signed a partnership agreement (through the Mitsui Bank)[9] by which the former became an affiliate of the latter and focused itself on truck and bus production alongside vehicle assembly under contract.

[4] In the 1970s, Hino introduced the so-called "red" diesel engines with a focus on fuel efficiency and incorporating MAN technology.

The company introduced new heavy vehicles (trucks and coaches) and expanded its Asian business to try improving its profitability.

[19] In 2002, Hino and Isuzu merged their bus/coach production and development facilities in Japan into a joint venture called J-Bus.

[20] In March of that year, Hino and Scania AB signed a partnership deal by which the former was to take charge of the Japanese sales of the latter.

[26] In 2018, Hino and Volkswagen Truck and Bus (later renamed Traton) announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership for activities including procurement, technologies and logistics.

[12] In March 2021, Hino, its parent Toyota, and Isuzu announced the creation of a strategic partnership between the three companies.

The three companies said they would form a new joint venture by April called Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation with the aim of developing fuel cell and electric light trucks.

[33] In May 2023, Hino and its parent Toyota signed a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi Fuso and its parent Daimler Truck for a plan of merging Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso into a publicly traded holding company with "equal investment" from both Toyota and Daimler Truck.

In May 2006, Hino opened a new 12,300 m2 (132,000 sq ft) assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario, employing at first 45 (grown since to more than 70) and with an annual capacity of 2,400 trucks.

The partnership assembles medium and heavy trucks, destined mainly to the export market for the Andinean and Central American countries.

Hino Motors Manufacturing Indonesia (HMMI)[41] is strategic production base for ASEAN region.

[46] In mid 2008, Hino Motors was said to be building a new truck assembly facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, serving international deliveries.

The facility was reportedly built in an 80:20 partnership with Japanese trading firm Mitsui, opening in 2009 and with a production capacity for 1,200 of the Hino 500 series trucks per year.

These included Hino Motors Limited, Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Al-Futtaim Group and PACO.

In 1998, Hino Motors, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation obtained majority shareholding in the company after disinvestments by the other two founding sponsors.

Hinopak Motors has gained 70% market share making it the largest manufacturer in medium and heavy-duty truck and bus industry in Pakistan.

[52] Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A., Inc. assembles medium-duty trucks at its Williamstown, West Virginia, plant.

Its manufacturing facilities in Ontario, California, and Marion, Arkansas, produce axles, knuckles, and suspension components for Toyota's Tacoma, Tundra, and Sequoia models.

In the 2016–2017 period, it was completely replaced by the Nitta and Koga plants for those,[26][25] keeping since then only some activities related to vehicle parts.

[26] The plant produces parts, axles, frames as well as medium and heavy trucks both as knock-down kits and as fully assembled units.

[67] Hino has various parts producing subsidiaries which supply Hino itself and other clients: Takebe Tekkosho Co., Ltd. (plants in Atsugi and Thailand),[69] Sohshin Co., Ltd. (Iruma and Tokigawa, Saitama),[70] Fukushima Steel Works Co., Ltd. (Fukushima and Sagamihara),[71] Rikken Forge Co., Ltd. (Maebashi and Isesaki),[72] Meiyu Kiko Co., Ltd. (Nirasaki, Yamanashi),[73] Yoshizawa Ironworks Co., Ltd. (Kōshū, Yamanashi)[74] and Serio Co., Ltd. (Komatsu, Ishikawa).

[76] From March 2019 onwards, Hino owns a minority stake in MONET Technologies Inc., a mobility services joint venture established by Toyota and Softbank.

An autonomous modular concept vehicle, dubbed Flatformer, was co-developed by Hino and REE Automotive and displayed at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show.

[88] In January 2025, Hino was ordered to pay a total of $1.6 billion in fines after agreeing to plead guilty to charges of fraud in the US District Court in Detroit for unlawfully selling heavy-duty diesel engines in the United States that did not meet emissions standards from 2010 to 2022.