ATN #418

It was no surprise that a major upgrade
of the Hino 700-series heavy-duty range
would follow much earlier updates to
its 300-series light-duty and 500-series
medium-duty models.
What did surprise, however, during a
recent preview of the latest heavy-duty
hopefuls, was just how far Hino has gone
in its bid to make the 700-series a far
more competitive and appealing line-up
and, in the process, provide a platform
entirely capable of challenging European
competitors as well as its Japanese rivals.
Have no doubt, on first impression, this
is a heavy-duty line-up far beyond anything
Hino has ever offered before in any weight
class. Moreover, while company insiders say
it’ll be three or four months until we get the
chance to climb behind the wheel, there was
enough to see and hear at a static display in
Sydney to predict a bold new appreciation
for the Toyota-owned brand’s heavy-duty
credentials.
Similarly surprising, though, was Hino’s
somewhat strange decision to retain peak
power of the 700’s reliable 13-litre engine at
the current peak of 480hp (358kW). Strange
indeed!
Consequently, Hino will remain the only
brand in the market today that doesn’t offer
500hp (373kW) or more from a 13-litre
engine, yet fully aware that Japanese rival
Fuso will, later this year, add a 13-litre
510hp (380kW) model to its top-end Shogun
range. Again, a strange decision indeed,
particularly given the brand’s stated resolve
to be a bigger player in the heavy-duty
business and one day realise its long-held
ambition to overtake Isuzu as Australia’s
top selling truck brand.
That said, though, Hino Australia’s
somewhat circumspect manager of product
strategy, Daniel Petrovski, was quick to hint
that bigger things are brewing and what
we were shown in Sydney is effectively
the first of several phases in the brand’s
pursuit of a substantially bigger footprint
in the heavy-duty field. Whether a 500-plus
version is part of any future phase, he
wouldn’t say.
What he did say, however, was: “The
reliability of the Hino E13C engine is already
well proven, and the improved version in
the all-new 700-series range is available
in two power ratings of 450hp (336kW)
and 480hp.”
More to the point, perhaps, the 13-litre
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