Hiace advances and Stellantis analyzes Brazil

Toyota’s plans to start assembling the Hiace utility vehicle in Argentina are advancing at a good pace. As Ámbito announced, the idea is to assemble this model at the Zárate plant in its two versions: van and passenger. The novelty is that the works to build the place where the vehicle will be assembled have already begun. The works are being carried out close to the area of ​​the plant that is known as the “nature reserve”. The start of production, for now, is towards the end of the year and a rate of 10 units per day is expected. It will be done under the static manufacturing scheme. To understand it, it would be like a “handmade” montage, offline. For this, the staff is being trained. Meanwhile, the production of the Hilux continues very well with its third shift. What is being negotiated with Japan is to guarantee the supply of chips, which is the issue that worries the entire sector the most. The renewal of this model is expected for 2026 (in the coming months there will be a slight adjustment) and it will be a BMC (Big Minor Change) and not an FMC (Full Model Change). That is, something “Light” and not deep. This is because Toyota has a debate about where new technologies are going. For example, bet a lot on hydrogen. The change of CEO worldwide highlighted the discussion about the future or not of electric vehicles. In Argentina it had been announced that progress would be made towards a hybrid version of the Hilux, but this project has been shelved. Some are more blunt. We will have to see what happens.