(first posted 28 May 2017)
Think of Toyota and the first thing that’s likely to pop into your mind is a Corolla or a Camry. But the Toyota Group, like most Asian conglomerates, has an amazing number of subsidiaries and affiliates; you may be surprised to know that here in Japan you can buy a Toyota house, supposedly built with the same precision as an LS460 and the sturdiness of a Land Cruiser. But as we’re Curbside and not Neighborhood Classics, we’ll focus on Toyota’s wheeled products. One of the company’s major affiliates is Hino Motors, their large-vehicle manufacturer and a member of the Toyota family since 1967, and one of Hino’s most popular models is its large intercity and touring coach, the S’Elega.
Hino is certainly an interesting company—it built its first vehicle in 1917, and was prior to WW II part of a conglomerate that included Isuzu Motors. After the war it focused primarily on diesel trucks and buses.
Renault-Hino 4CV
Hino Contessa
But it did assemble Renaults in Japan under license beginning in 1953. Based on that experience, they launched their first in-house model in 1961, the Contessa. It was a compact car with a rear OHV longitudinal engine, i.e., very Renault-like. In 1964 it received a significant redesign with an attractive new body by Michelotti. Alan Lacki has a great post on the Contessa here.
With its incorporation into the Toyota Group, Hino dropped its car line and focused on larger vehicles. It’s currently the most popular truck and bus manufacturer in Japan; ahead of Isuzu, Mitsubishi, and Nissan, and has expanded significantly into Asia, the US, and Europe since the early 2000’s. The S’Elega is its top-of-the-line intercity and touring coach.
The S’Elega comes in 12- and 9-meter lengths. The 12-meter version has a 12.9-litre turbocharged OHC six-cylinder Hino diesel that pushes out 450 bhp and 1560 lb·ft.
Recently here in Japan, tour companies have been offering premium services catered to a more well-heeled clientele, and the S’Elega is their coach of choice. It can be configured with upscale “first class” seating—not a bad way to see the sights, though pricey.
I’ve had the opportunity to ride in several S’Elegas, and can confirm they are very Lexuslike. Fit and finish are perfect; panel gaps are small and uniform, and line up exactly, not something you typically expect to find in a bus. The ride is very quiet and composed—the quietness was what surprised me most, I’m used to a few rattles when riding a bus, but there are none here.
Fairly close to our home is the Hamura Hino Assembly facility, a sprawling factory that encompasses four or five city blocks and has its own banked test track. Each Spring they open the gates and invite the public in to enjoy the cherry blossoms scattered around the plant.
They also offer a variety of attractions, my favorite being a bus ride around the test track—pretty entertaining as you round a 39% bank in a bus going about 100 km/h. No photography was permitted at the track, but they did allow pictures at the loading point. This S’Elega had the new diesel-electric hybrid power train.
Maybe if I hit the lottery I can afford to ride in a Premium model one day…
Hinos are pretty common in NZ the trucks that is, the Contessa car was assembled here prior to Toyota assembly begining, we have lots of used Hino Rainbow buses mostly converted into motorhomes but not these nice new models, they do look quite nice.
We have a lot of Hino medium-duty trucks in the US, but I can’t say if I’ve ever seen one of their buses here.
Hino sold cars briefly here around ’65-’66. I remember reading a road test in the newspaper, but don’t recall ever seeing one.
A columnist (might have been Bill Tuckey?) in Wheels magazine once noted that the Contessa was the only car he’d ever driven that under-steered and over-steered at the same time. As a child when I read that, it made my head spin trying to fathom it out.
Many years ago as a little boy I recognized the Hino badge but I never knew it was from Japan ( let alone any Asian countries ) because the old one looks too American ( almost like modern day Chrysler badge with fancy font )
Then one day I saw a newer truck around Detroit and instantly knew it was different from other American or Volvo trucks because it rusts differently ( more rusty on frame, rims and body ) around welding or rivets. After seeing several trucks with distinctive rust patterns, I looked up to see what it is, and it turns out Hino 600. The new badge is less distinctive among commercial vehicles ( because back then, only Hino, or few from communism countries had such luxurious looking badge any close to the flying wing for trucks and buses )
Been driving a 1993 Hino FB truck for over 20 years it just keeps going & going.
Many make it to a million miles. Was looking for the winged Hino Badge to hang on the wall when I saw your pic.
In Europe the equivalents would be, most of all, the Germans: Setra S517 HDH (Evobus group, part of Daimler)
… the Mercedes-Benz Travego
…The Neoplan Skyliner (the single deck version Starliner was discontinued. Neoplan is a part of MAN, and consequently, belongs to the VW group)…
..And to a lesser extent, the buses built by independent coachbuilders. My favorite is the Spanish Irizar i8, available with chassis from every manufacturer on Europe, or with Irizar’s own chassis, with DAF mechanicals (pictured below)
There are many others in the top-class segment in Europe, like VDL Futura, the Caetano Winner from my neck of the woods, the Volvo 9900…
Hino a Toyota subsidiary may have not been building cars since the mid-1960s due to Toyota taking over those roles, but Daihatsu a former half owned subsidiary now currently a fully owned division makes cars now along with Toyota its parent company. Perodua an Indonesian car company also built cars for Daihatsu/Toyota like the Toyota Wigo (Agya)/Daihatsu Ayla for instance. BMW & Toyota are already in the process of a new generation BMW Z4 based Toyota Supra. Subaru aka Fuji Heavy Industries is partly owned by Toyota currently at 16%. Suzuki and Toyota may soon either team up or acquired by the latter. https://www.competitionpolicyinternational.com/japan-toyota-suzuki-near-partnership-agreement/
I guess a “near-partnership agreement” is what follows a corporate near-death experience!
Smaller Toyota brand trucks are often daihatsu badged, Dyna being a common crossover here Dyna vans are a Heavy duty Toyota Hiace often with dual rear wheel sets bigger stuff is Hino but the little stuff gets spread around,
I had also forgotten to mention that Mazda also is currently in joint venturing with Toyota which brought us the Toyota Yaris iA (formerly Scion iA) which is based from the current Mazda 2/Demio not currently imported to North America. GM and Toyota had not only joint ventured to bring us the NUMMI Nova, Geo/Chevrolet Prizm and the Pontiac Vibe, but they also had similar arrangements with GM’s Australian branch Holden in producing the Corolla based Holden Nova and Camry based Holden Apollo. In return, Holden supplied them with the Commodore and renamed it Toyota Lexcen in Japan. Lastly getting back to GM and Toyota “partnership” in North America, GM supplied Toyota with the thinly disguised Chevrolet Cavalier also called a Cavalier in return for the Corolla based Chevrolet Prizm and also the Saturn S Series was also imported to Japan via Toyota Dealerships as well.
Another great bus review. The S’Elega is also rebadged and sold as the Isuzu Gala. When badges aren’t present, the two are indistinguishable to me.
A lot of drivers take the piss out of Japanese trucks, but having driven a lot of them they really arent that bad a little underpowered for those guys who cant drive anything with less than 600hp, but they are fairly comfortable fairly quiet and even in a high mileage one everything still works, I took one of the Nissan/UD trucks we have to Tauranga not long ago loaded it to 53 tonnes and drove back the only route allowed for HPMV units and it was far nicer than my usual Freightliner and only 1 whole gear lower up and down the Kaimais, UD now comes with a Volvo powertrain like Mack Granites have, but are sold new at the Volvo shop, Ive driven the Hino 700 series which has the same engine as that bus, nice enough to drive, a mate of mine got out of a Volvo Btrain and into a 700 Hino and loves it, when it got sold out of its original fleet he followed it.
Hino puts the clutch brake inside its roadranger transmissions just to make it difficult to repair, you never floor the clutch on a roadranger but Hino add an extra reason
That swept back silver band from above the headlights to the roof, playing a big role, in the attractiveness of this bus. Combined with the blacked out driver’s area. Without this extra creative design, overall exterior aesthetics would be quite conventional. Almost bland.
OMG that interior is so awesome. Moving the walk way from the center to the side is brilliant. No more unexpected big butt side swipes (probably less of an issue in Asia than the US). That must have been quite the experience riding this luxurious beast around a test track with a 39% banking.
The picture below is from Mercedes test track in Germany and looks more like one helluva amusement park ride. I sure hope they emptied out the lavatory before hand. 😄
Actually won’t the wastewater stay where it’s supposed to?
I don’t want to be the one paying for a replacement windshield on a bus such as this.