Hino Australia has ended 2021 on a high with record-breaking customer orders, resulting in the manufacturer’s largest ever volume with 6,278 new vehicle deliveries.
“While our final market share for 2021 of 18.0% was a strong result, supply restrictions primarily resulting from the global shortage of semi-conductors had an impact on the final outcome,” said Sam Suda, President and CEO of Hino Australia.
“Despite receiving tremendous support from Hino Motors Ltd. Japan, maintaining continuity of new truck supply during 2021 to meet customer demand has been challenging – a situation that, unfortunately, we expect to continue moving into 2022.
“Customer reaction to the all-new 700 Series has been phenomenal, with orders across our heavy-duty range exceeding pre-launch expectations – we achieved a market share of 4.5%, which was consistent with our 2020 result but restricted by supply issues,” continued Sam Suda.
“In particular, we have taken more customer orders for the FY3036 and FY3048 8x4 load-share front axle models during the past five months than over the past four years.”
In the first complete year of sales since its mid-2020 launch, the 300 Series has been embraced by Hino customers with 3,346 sales, which translated to a 23.3% light-duty segment share, an increase of 0.9% compared to 2020.
An important option for customers in the 300 Series range are the hybrid models, which meet Euro 6 exhaust emission standards.
“2021 was one of our strongest years ever for hybrid with over 50 orders,” he said.
“With supply challenges heavily impacting the delivery of 500 Series Standard Cab in the second half of 2021, we finished the year with 31.4% market share in the medium-duty segment.
“While this is a decrease compared to recent years, we are confident the strong customer order base positions Hino for a strong year in 2022,” he continued.
From January 2022, 500 Series customers will join 700 Series customers in benefiting from the standard fitment of Hino-Connect, the next-generation of business intelligence that provides customers with real-time performance data tracking, remote diagnosis of vehicle faults and dedicated Hino-Connect specialist support.
Hino-Connect further enhances the Hino Advantage suite of business solutions designed to reduce operating cost over the life of the vehicle.
“We continue to identify and provide improved options for our customers with upgraded or new dealership facilities in Queensland (Proserpine, Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba), New South Wales (Gosford, Orange, Tamworth, and Taree), Western Australia (Kalgoorlie, Karratha and Port Hedland), Victoria (Hamilton) and Tasmania (Hobart),” he said.
Further reinforcing its commitment to its customers, Hino Australia opened a new 9,272m2 state-of-the art purpose-built Parts Distribution Centre (PDC) in mid-2021.
This new facility, with improved inventory levels, enables Hino to provide a high supply rate to its customers and support the ongoing growth of parts and accessory sales, and allowed Hino to end 2021 with record-breaking year-on-year parts sales growth of 12%.
“It’s an exciting time for Hino Australia – with 80 years of global experience in design and innovation, we now provide Australian customers with a complete line-up of next-generation transport solutions coupled with customer-focussed support,” concluded Sam Suda.