Hino's decision to offer a fully automatic truck in the light duty segment has paid off
As the only truck manufacturer offering a fully automatic truck in the light duty segment, Hino is sitting pretty with sales of its 300-Series trucks.
Steve Lotter, Chief Operating Officer for Hino, says the take-up of Hino 300 six-speed fully automatic trucks has seen the company already exceed its full-year 2007 automatic model sales in just seven months in 2008.
Some Hino automatic models now out-sell their manual equivalents.
“Hino now offers six fully automatic models, compared with three a year ago, and we’re still the only manufacturer offering automatic light truck models,” he said.
“The take-up with rental fleet owners has been particularly strong – in fact an electronically controlled automatic transmission makes sense for any application where the drivers do not come from the ranks of professional truck drivers.”
Hino’s best-selling automatic is the 616 Auto model, with 127 trucks sold year-to-date (YTD) 2008, compared with 148 in the full year 2007.
The 816 Auto is another strong seller, with 38 trucks sold YTD July 2008, compared with 53 manual variants YTD July 2008 and 50 automatics sold in 2007.
Hino also offers its six-speed automatic transmission in volume-selling 716 Medium and 816 Crew Cab models.