While European truck making counterpart Iveco can lay claim to victory in the Dakar Rally, Japanese rival is cheering the result of the Sugawara Hino team in the arduous 14 day rally, with its bonneted Hino 600 Series hybrid truck running in a lower capacity class finishing tenth in the 2023 Dakar Rally.
This was the 32nd consecutive Dakar Rally finish for Hino since it made its debut in 1991 when it became the first Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer to enter the rally.
“The course was amazing and I think this has been the most difficult year for us so far,” said Teruhito Sugawara, driver and team director of Hino Team Sugawara.
Sugawara was again joined on-board by Hirokazu Somemiya and Yuji Mochizuki with support members of Hino Team Sugawara providing assistance during the rally.
Hino Australia vice president of brand and franchise developmen,t Richard Emery praised the team’s excellent results, saying that Hino Australia has been a proud sponsor of Hino Team Sugawara for the past decade
“We congratulate them on returning to the top ten,” said Emery.
“In difficult weather conditions over tough terrain, Hino Team Sugawara again demonstrated the reliability that Hino is renowned for,” he added.
The Dakar Hino runs in the under 10 litre class and is powered by an 8,866 litre direct injection, turbocharged and intercooled A09C engine, which is matched to a six-speed automatic transmission driving through a full-time 4WD.
A production version of the A09C engine is used in various versions of the road going Hino 700 Series and 500 Series Wide Cab trucks in Australia
