Japanese automakers Toyota Motor and Isuzu Motors announced that they have agreed to jointly develop a new generation of fuel-cell route buses, with plans to launch commercial production in the 2026 fiscal year (ending in March 2027). The buses will be produced at a plant in Utsunomiya City, Tochigi Prefecture, owned by J-Bus Ltd, an equal stake joint venture between Isuzu and Toyota’s Hino subsidiary, established in 2002.
The new fuel-cell buses will be based on the same platform used for the flat-floor, battery-powered route bus developed by Isuzu and manufactured by J-Bus since the 2024 fiscal year. They will be powered by Toyota’s latest hydrogen fuel cell system.
Toyota said the two companies aim to minimize the cost of developing and producing the new fuel cell buses by maximizing the use of standardized battery electric vehicle (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) components, as they look to expand the use of zero-emission vehicles. They plan to work with local governments and businesses in various regions, including those designated by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in May 2025 as ‘Priority Regions for Promoting the Deployment of Fuel-Cell Commercial Vehicles.’
Toyota said that it regards hydrogen “as an important energy source in the pursuit of carbon neutrality, and is advancing various initiatives for the production, transportation and storage of hydrogen in collaboration with a wide range of partners across multiple industries.”
