“Sales by Hino and the other Japanese truck manufacturers are showing more resilience than their European counterparts in a global automotive industry that is in greater turmoil now than ever in its 150-year history,” says Anton Falck, Vice President of Hino South Africa. He was speaking at a media briefing at the Nampo agricultural show at Bothaville on May 11.
Uncertainty about the future, ever-changing legislation, and tariff barriers as well as rapidly rising energy prices are among the challenges that vehicle manufacturers face in these tough economic times. Countries such as South Africa are integrated into global supply chains so are also affected by the global unrest.
“Here, in South Africa, we have a well-established vehicle manufacturing sector which supports many component makers and employs a substantial workforce. However, they now face a changing situation where increasing numbers of vehicles are arriving at the South African ports as built-up imports. This is another game changer and we, the local manufacturers, must face,” added Falck.
Hino SA sales
Last year Hino SA again exceeded sales of 3 000 units with its four truck ranges. The actual total of 3 178 units gave Hino a 10.2% share of the total SA truck market, which was slightly down on the total of 3 343 units and a 10.8% share in 2024. This year looks similar, with total sales of 930 units in the first four months of 2026 and the company is confident of again exceeding the 3 000-unit mark for the year.
Hino Motors, Japan, has recently become part of a new company, Archion, with Mitsubishi Fuso, to ensure the combined strength of the two brands in terms of all aspects of vehicle design and manufacture, together with long established reputations for outstanding after sales service, will ensure they remain competitive in a rapidly changing market.
Datatrack
“We at Hino South Africa are very proud of our ongoing strong performances in the local Datatrack quarterly customer care survey of 13 truck brands. We were again in first position in Q1 2026 combined ranking for sales, service, and parts with a total of 99.69, which was well above the national average of 95.76,” said Falck.
This was the 12th consecutive quarter, since Q1 2023, where Hino has held the coveted No. 1 spot with the combined results based on input provided by the 30 000 local truck operators surveyed. This highly rated survey by Datatrack has been undertaken for the past 38 years and is well respected in the industry and among our customers.
Hino also came out top in both sales and service categories for the first quarter of 2026, scoring 99.69 and 99.81 respectively, again well ahead of the national average. The Hino parts score of 96.55 was also well above the average of 95.14
After Sales update
“At Hino South Africa, our commitment remains firmly focused on delivering superior customer experience and strengthening our value proposition across the entire lifecycle of our vehicles. From the initial purchase experience to aftersales support, service, repairs, and parts supply, our strategy is guided by the Hino Total Support philosophy — ensuring maximum vehicle uptime while reducing operational costs for our customers,” commented Falck.
“A key area of focus is our parts business and supply chain transformation. In partnership with Hino Motors Limited in Japan, Hino South Africa made the strategic decision, earlier this year, to transition our parts supply directly from Japan to South Africa, moving away from the previous supply route through Hino Motors Europe.
“As with any major transformation project, we experienced unforeseen operational challenges during implementation. Unfortunately, these challenges impacted the availability of certain service filters within our dealer network and affected some of our customers. However, I am pleased to report that we have made substantial progress in stabilising our parts supply operations. Our ‘Allocation Fill Rate on First Request’ has now returned to approximately 95%, approaching pre-transition performance levels,” said Falck.
This part supply recovery was achieved through several focused interventions, including:
- Establishing new supplier partnerships,
- Strengthening logistics capabilities,
- Identifying critical stock requirements, and
- Increasing our stock holding by an additional month to support long-term supply stability.
These actions place us in a stronger position to achieve our target Allocation Fill Rate of 96%.
Introduction of the Six-Year Drive Train Warranty
In 2025, Hino South Africa introduced a significant enhancement to its customer offering through the launch of a six-year drive train warranty across its truck range, extending coverage from the previous two-year warranty period.
This milestone demonstrates the company’s confidence in the durability, reliability, and quality of Hino products. In parallel, service and maintenance plans were enhanced, introducing improved cents-per-kilometre cost structures aligned with the new 6-year warranty programme. This ensures customers benefit not only from extended protection, but also from predictable and competitive operating costs throughout the ownership cycle.
Launch of Hino Care Gap Cover
Building on this momentum, Hino South Africa will launch the new Hino Care Gap Cover in mid-2026. This new product has been designed to complement the Six-year drive train warranty and will replace the previous Hino Extended Warranty programme. The Hino Care Gap Cover offers customers broader and improved warranty protection on listed components, including enhanced coverage for areas such as towing, cooling systems, and electrical components. Importantly, these improvements are being introduced without increasing the customer cost, as the product will be offered at the same price point as the previous extended warranty offering.
Hybrid trucks on Kinto subscription scheme
One of Hino SA’s latest projects is the introduction of a limited number of diesel-electric hybrid models to our 300 Series range. We are initially importing 32 units, with eight of them already in the country. These first eight will be operated by Namlog for their transport contract at the Toyota Africa Parts Centre in Ekurhuleni. Three of these trucks are in service already and a further five will be added shortly. The remaining 24 hybrids will be distributed to major fleet operators.
All these trucks will operate on Toyota’s international Kinto subscription scheme whereby one inclusive payment per month covers vehicle subscription, service, and maintenance and which simplifies fleet management. Kinto Protect offers comprehensive insurance cover for the vehicle. This is optional for fleet operators but mandatory for private individuals. Contracts can be extended with certain parameters.
Falck added that he was proud of being able to put these fuel-saving Hino hybrids into real-time service in South Africa, with the arrival coming at the time of the huge price increases in the price of diesel fuel. The Hino 300 Hybrids have been recording fuel savings of between 15-30% depending on the type of operation, and this type of saving is most welcome at these times of rapidly rising transport costs. Using these trucks also assists in cutting a fleet’s carbon emissions.
Dual fuel prototype truck to be tested in SA
Hino’s has committed to a multi-pathway energy source for its vehicles, depending on where they are operating and what they are required to do. Here in South Africa, petrol and diesel fuel has been used for years, but now diesel-electric hybrids extend the user base. But Hino’s local innovation doesn’t end there and next month a prototype dual fuel truck that uses diesel fuel and hydrogen will be previewed.
Closing
“As you can see from our comprehensive range of activities, Hino South Africa is very much alive and well and well prepared to take up the challenges of a rapidly changing market, with our main focus and our efforts always being ensuring we have satisfied customers,” concluded Anton Falck.
