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 with the Contessa engine slightly enlarged and installed in the front with rear wheel drive. The Italian stylist Giovanni Michelotti redesigned the Contessa line in 1964 with a 1300 cc rear-mounted engine. Fed by two SU type carburettors, this developed 60 hp (44 kW) in the sedan and 70 hp (51 kW) in the coupé version. However, Hino ceased private car production very quickly in 1967 following a strategic alliance with Toyota in 1965. In 1963, the Hamura factory began operations, and focused entirely on commercial truck and bus manufacture. Hino Trucks have also been assembled in Norway (1977–85), Portugal and Canada. Hino became a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation in 2001. In 2018, Hino and Volkswagen Truck and Bus (later renamed Traton) announced a wide-ranging strategic partnership for activities including procurement, technologies and logistics. In November 2019, they established a procurement joint venture called Hino and Traton Global Procurement, with 51% of it owned by Traton and 49% by Hino. In March 2021, Hino, its parent Toyota, and Isuzu announced the creation of a strategic partnership between the three companies. Toyota acquired a 4.6% stake in Isuzu while the latter plans to acquire Toyota shares for an equivalent value. 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. Toyota would own an 80% stake in the venture while Hino and Isuzu would own 10% each. In August 2022, after Toyota published the findings of a self-commissioned investigation highlighting that Hino Motors falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least October 2003, Toyota and Isuzu "expelled" Hino from their partnership. The Hino stake would be given to Toyota. Canada Hino has been marketing trucks in Canada since the 1970s. Hino Motors Canada Ltd., is the exclusive distributor of Hino products in Canada, and is part of the Toyota Group of Companies, with head office and Parts Distribution Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. In May 2006, Hino opened a new assembly plant in Woodstock, Ontario, employing at first 45 (grown since to more than 70) and with an annual capacity of 2,400 trucks.