Hino Renault

The Hino Renault was the Renault 4CV as built under licence by Hino Jidosha for the Japanese market, and it was Hino's first passenger car. Hino signed a contract with Renault to manufacture the small rear-engined saloon in Japan; production began in April 1953 and ended in 1963, and 34,853 cars were made in all. The only body was a four-door saloon, powered by a rear-mounted four-cylinder engine of 748 cubic centimetres that gave 21 PS and drove the rear wheels through a three-speed gearbox on a wheelbase of 210 centimetres. The first version, the PA53 of 1953 and 1954, was 3,610 millimetres long, while the PA54, PA55 and PA56 that followed measured 3,845 millimetres because a new Japanese traffic rule allowed vehicles over 3.8 metres to travel 10 km/h faster. From the PA54 buyers could choose standard, deluxe, taxi and police versions. Local parts content was required from the start and grew over time, and relations with Renault cooled after 1955 when Hino modified the car and limited royalty payments. The Hino Contessa succeeded it.