JOST and Hyva have coexisted as titans in the world of commercial vehicle solutions manufacturing for decades. Both companies were established as humble production operations out of Germany and the Netherlands, respectively, and have since grown tremendously to service a multitude of markets across Europe and the rest of the world.
Now, looking to expand this outreach even further, JOST has moved to acquire Hyva.
This acquisition, announced at last year’s IAA Transportation and finalised at the end of January 2025, has been an integral aspect of JOST’s newly developed efforts to service more markets with greater technology.
According to JOST CEO, Joachim Dürr, the production scale that the acquisition of Hyva will bring to JOST’s operations is key to this recently defined global strategy.
“JOST has a strategic process for deciding how we want to develop,” he said.
“A little more than a year ago, we started reviewing our global strategy – seeing how the commercial vehicle industry was developing, what the demand from our customers looked like, and how we needed to position ourselves as a company. We found that product scale will be more important for the business in the future, as well as global relevance for our customers.”
Achieving this larger product scale is essential for JOST to capitalise on the commercial vehicle industry’s recent growth trends and adapt to its increasingly stringent and complex technology requirements. By supplying newly up-and-coming Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), body builders, dealers and end users with commercial vehicle equipment, JOST will expand its presence to more markets around the world and increase its global influence as a result.
Hyva was decided as the company for JOST to acquire due to the plethora of similarities between them; Dürr expressed that Hyva’s product offering greatly complements JOST’s own.
“Hyva’s product offering works well with our existing product portfolio,” he said.
“When you think of couplings worldwide, you think of JOST. And if you think of tipping cylinders and hydraulics, you think of Hyva. It is a global brand, recognised in all relevant commercial vehicle markets. To that end, it is an extremely good fit for us.
“When the opportunity came up to enter discussions, I was quite excited, and we were able to achieve a good deal. It allows us to carry out the next strategic steps of building a home for Hyva, which in turn allows them to develop better under the roof of JOST.”
JOST’s acquisition of Hyva – which marks the former’s largest acquisition in its history – will consolidate both companies’ manufacturing capabilities and international market shares, expecting to spark a significant synergy between them. The combination of Hyva’s strong presence in Asian markets with JOST’s presence in North America and Australia stand to benefit both companies.
From this acquisition, JOST’s sales and regional coverage will increase substantially, along with the brand’s market penetration, through the very precise and deliberate integration of JOST products and services into previously competitive areas, to create real value opportunities for customers.
Another priority of this acquisition is to bring production costs down for product manufacturing across the board, ensuring the company’s competitiveness – an outcome Dürr plans to achieve with many mechanisms while presiding over an increase in product offering and coverage globally.
“We want to focus on bringing costs down by combining purchasing volumes, engineering work, electronic systems and more,” he said.
In addition to the consolidation of both companies’ international markets and product lines, JOST’s acquisition of Hyva will also stand to affect each company’s internal administration and approach to business.
JOST and Hyva are like-minded organisations that share corporate ambitions, product offerings and complimenting business values – as evidenced by the acquisition itself. Given this alignment, Dürr is confident that any administrative differences between the companies can be absorbed into operational strengths.
“There are a lot of similarities, and there are also some differences,” he said. “Those differences serve as opportunities to select better operation methods for JOST.”
These opportunities for refinement are present in various forms. While Dürr has acknowledged a potential obstacle in combining the day-to-day administrative duties of both JOST and Hyva, he is certain that a strong line of communication will smooth the transition for employees and customers alike.
“This is a typical challenge that you have when you integrate two companies,” he said.
“It’s just important that we have good and open communication so that our employees, and customers, understand the way we run and build trust with our brands. The right communication will allow us to focus on opportunities and figure out the steps we need to take to approach them.”
Another opportunity for business refinement comes in the form of both companies’ approaches to the culture and conventions of the specific markets they operate in.
Because of JOST and Hyva’s mix of market penetration in different regions, both companies will need to learn how to effectively operate in each other’s market space – another dynamic that Dürr said will also fuel synergy for both organisations.
“Culturally, when it comes to competence in certain markets, a business needs to understand the certain history of these markets as well as the relationship with customers, suppliers and dealers,” he said. “We will use the stronger part of this understanding from both companies and create an even stronger cultural basis for business operations. The local-to-local approach, meaning specialised knowledge tailored to the diverse regional needs, has always been part of JOST’s DNA.”
JOST’s acquisition of Hyva stands to make waves in the commercial vehicle solutions manufacturing industry, uniting two of its behemoth presences into one international powerhouse of production. Armed with plentiful industry and acquisition experience, Dürr and JOST are ready for more.
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