As we reported on Friday, Hino Motors is locating a truck assembly plant in Williamstown, West Virginia. The investment is not as major as one would expect for a truck factory and its announcement may not have any bearing on Marion, Arkansas’ chances for a future Hino plant.

Hino will re-tool an existing factory building in Williamstown spending about $8.6 million in the process. Initially, 80 workers will be employed in hopes that the workforce will expand to 400. Hino expects to produce about 2,500 trucks annually at the plant. Here’s coverage from the Williamstown area newspaper.

With markets to pursue in the northeastern U.S., this is apparently not the Hino plant that Marion, Arkansas had hoped would come with its initial Hino parts factory investment.

In May at Hino’s $70 million expansion announcement in Marion, Jason Wiest with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reported comments from site consultant Dennis Cuneo. He noted at that time that Hino was considering adding a plant in the northeastern U.S.  If built, Cuneo said it would represent a smaller investment, in terms of money and jobs, than what Hino has already invested in Arkansas.

"Whatever we do today or later to be announced, in a few weeks or a few months, doesn't preclude anything that'll be happening here later," Cuneo said at the May announcement.

UPDATE: Marion’s economic developer, Kay Brockwell, tells Talk Business that Hino has said repeatedly that when it builds a “from-the-ground-up” assembly plant that Marion will get top consideration. “I have no reason to believe that plan has changed,” says Brockwell.

She says today’s announcement of West Virginia for a “knockdown” plant is similar to Hino’s facilities in California and Ontario. A “knockdown” plant is where Hino brings in preassembled cab, engine, chassis and transmission models and puts them together. Brockwell also notes that Hino is investing $8.6 million in West Virginia versus its current $235 million investment in Marion, which she adds has twice as much square footage and room to grow.

Today’s announcement would also bring Hino’s U.S. and Canadian production levels closer to its stated threshold of 10,000 commercial trucks. Hino has said in the past that North American sales of 10,000 would trigger its consideration for a “ground up” plant.