Fuso Shogun Makes the Short List for ToYA

News

22 Apr

The Fuso Shogun 510 has been announced as a finalist for the inaugural Truck of the Year Australasia.

(Full details of ToYA are at the end of this article)

Australia’s most powerful Japanese truck is one of four finalists of the award, which seeks to shine a spotlight on the excellence of the product-hauling freight on our highways.

The Truck of the Year Australasia is judged on criteria used globally by existing International Truck of the Year awards, but also takes into account the particular characteristics of the Australian and New Zealand truck markets.

Fuso will present the Shogun 510 as a tipper for the first time at the Brisbane Truck Show next month, while a prime mover version of the same truck will also be on hand.

The 510 Tipper specification model has the lightest tare weight of any tipper with 500hp-plus in Australia and New Zealand, which is a boost for productivity.

The Shogun 510 was developed specifically for Australian and New Zealand customers who asked for an advanced Japanese truck with more than 500hp and a mountain of torque.

Fuso listened and sourced a 13-litre OM471 engine from the Daimler Truck family, creating the ultimate Japanese truck that belts out 510hp and 2500Nm of torque while meeting Euro 6 emission standards, well ahead of local mandates. The package also includes a smart shifting DT12 fully Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), which is well-suited to the potent engine.

Fuso Truck and Bus Australia Director, Alex Müller, was excited the 510 Shogun has been recognised as a finalist.

“We are very pleased to see the Shogun 510 make the finals of the Truck of the Year Australasia award,” he said. “The Shogun 510 is a very special truck because it was developed for the hard working truck drivers of Australia and New Zealand. It is a great example of listening to your customers and giving them exactly what they want.”

Mr Müller says the Shogun 510 combines the robustness of a Japanese truck with the power normally found in trucks from Europe and North America in a package that also includes the latest generation active safety technology.

“Australian and New Zealand customers love their horsepower and their Japanese trucks. We thought it made sense to combine them both and the Shogun 510 has been huge hit.”

**The Australian test-bed Shogun back in 2019**

The winner of the inaugural Truck of the Year Australasia award will be announced at the Brisbane Truck Show that runs from May 18 to 21 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

The Fuso Shogun is available as a prime mover that can be used for single trailer or B-Double work. A rigid version was also made available recently and is a very popular specification for tipper and dog work thanks to its power and torque.

The Shogun 510 was put through an extensive durability testing regime, including an outback Australian test of an initial prototype in 2017. Extensive hot weather durability testing was also carried out in South Africa and a final production-ready test program was undertaken in Australia and New Zealand.

Shogun models feature class-leading servicing intervals across the range, helping drive down the cost of ownership.

The Shogun is also backed by a generous Fuso manufacturer warranty that covers the truck for five years or 500,000km, whichever comes first.

Customers can also benefit from Daimler Trucks Financial Services options including asset loan, asset hire, finance lease and operating lease as well as a Guaranteed Buy Back program for added peace of mind.

. . . . . . .

(Credit: PowerTorque Magazine)

PowerTorque in association with NZ Trucking are introducing the Truck of the Year Australasia Award for the first time in 2023.

This year sees the arrival of a major initiative to increase the profile of the truck industry in Australia and New Zealand and emphasises the importance of trucks to our nations’ wellbeing and prosperity.

Truck of the Year Australasia (ToYA) will be presented at the Brisbane Truck Show in front of the media and will also serve as an opportunity for the truck industry, as a whole, to promote its importance to our economy.

In 2023, the first ToYA will be awarded to the truck which meets criteria based on those used globally by the other three International Truck of the Year (IToY) awards already in existence, in Europe, South America and China, but also taking into account the particular characteristics of the Australasian truck markets.

Truck of the Year Australasia is a positive initiative which will shine a spotlight on the excellence of the product hauling freight on our highways. There is general media interest in the award, which will further enhance that spotlight. Also, with the help of the close connections with our fellow jury members and access to trucking industry publications around the world, it is an opportunity to showcase this Australasian excellence internationally.

**Tim Giles, Editor, PowerTorque Magazine**

To choose the winner, a jury of five people will assess the trucks nominated. Apart from Tim Giles, Editor of PowerTorque and Dave McCoid, Editor of NZ Trucking, we have asked Charleen Clarke from South Africa to make up a third IToY representative. The other two jurors have yet to be decided, but will be either industry experts or journalists, without brand affiliations, one from Australia and one from New Zealand.

The award is our region’s development adding to the International Truck of the Year (IToY) award family, which was originally launched in 1977 by the British journalist and legendary Editor of TRUCK magazine, Pat Kennett.

Today, the 23 jury members from magazines throughout Europe have been joined by ‘associate members’ in the growing truck markets of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Iran, and South Africa. Altogether, the combined truck operator readership of the 24 IToY full-jury members’ magazines and those of its 10 associate members exceeds 1,100,000.

When the ToYA is presented the story will be broadcast around the world to these outlets, presenting the excellence of the Australasian truck industry to the rest of the world.

Here in Australia, the period around the Brisbane Truck Show is the obvious time and place to make the announcement of the award, as it is one of the few occasions when all of the Managing Directors and CEOs, of all of the truck manufacturers operating in the Australian truck market, are in the same room. The presentation of the award will alternate between Australia and New Zealand, with the 2024 award being presented in New Zealand.