Hino Australia boss Richard Emery has revealed the brand will have some severe structural supply issues in 2026, as the Australian market moves to mandatory Euro 6 requirements, which will see all new trucks offered sold here post 1 November 2025, having to meet a Euro 6 standard, or the equivalent US or Japanese standards.
The Hino CEO revealed that for some models there may be a ten month supply gap in 2026 as the company works to catch up from engineering delays that had their origins in the company’s well publicised emissions and fuel consumption scandal two years ago
Emery explained that with the emission and fuel efficiency standards scandal that beset Hino in Japan in 2022, came an engineering delay that has affected the ability for the Toyota controlled truck brand to produce enough Euro 6 trucks to satisfy demand in Australia.
“It’s not a secret that in 2022 Hino dealt with an emission and certification issue and If you remember, we were on stop sale, with 500 series from the second half of 2022,”m said Emery.
“While that issue was investigated and reviewed, and we returned to sale late in December 2022, obviously it was not just Australian product that was affected,” he said.
“It also impacted other markets, including the domestic market in Japan, and it meant that Hino in Japan needed to delay some of its new development programs, to go back and review some of those existing product lines, and to ensure the homologation certification process was accurate and consistent,” he added.
Emery explained that in doing that, Hino in Japan basically stopped all the work on Euro 6 for a period of time while they went back and did that work which will create a knock on affect that will mean a shortfall in compliant trucks in 2026
Emery said that for this year, Hino will likely finish much the same as it did last year, with sales volumes in the high 5000s, but this may come back a bit as the post Covid market adjusts and stabilises.
“That assumes we can get some of these trucks through the volume build system and delivered in that time frame, because we still have the order bank to cover that sort of volume,” Emery said.
Emery said that in 2025 Hino may find itself a few hundred short of its 2024 tally, perhaps in the low 5000s, which he said was not unusual in itself.
However with the move to Euro 6 next year comes a number of complications that will severely effect Hino’s ability to source compliant trucks from its parent in Japan.
“As we move from Euro 5, to Euro 6 the factory has to stop building the old one, retool, do whatever needs to be done, and then start to building the new one,” he said.
“That means on a few key models, our goal is going to be significant, and on two of our models this will be particularly challenging,” Emery emphasizes.
Emery said that with Hino’s 500 series, the company has supply of the current model that will fulfill the current order bank and that this is a significant order bank and will remain significant through to late 2025 so they’ll have trucks in place.
“However, we will then see a gap in supply of ten or more months in 2026 before we can restock with Euro 6 compliant product late in 2026,” Emery said.
“This means, on a practical front, that we’ve effectively sold out of the current 500 series until late 2026,” he said.
Emery said this is obviously going to impact Hino Australia in terms of timing for and while it’s frustrating, his executive team and the dealers absolutely support the situation.
“While it is frustrating the executive team at Hino and our dealers absolutely support our approach on this and that is to get eh work done and then reset for Euro 6, which is what they are now doing,” Emery said.
“We have talked taking our network through all of this scenario, so our dealers understand this, and although they are clearly a bit frustrated and disappointed, they remain committed to our joint business despite this,” he added.
Emery explained that while the Hino 500 Series medium duty trucks will bear the brunt of the issues and be the models that are most affected, the 300 Series range will also have a gap in availability, although not as severe as the 500 Series.
“In actual fact we will be able to sustain supply of 300 Series until the first half of 2026,
before this product will also see a gap in production through until late 2026 before we renew the range with Euro 6.
“As you know, we’re represented by some of the largest automotive retail groups in Australia, and they continue to invest in the Hino brand, you’ve seen new workshops and parts departments and things like that, and certainly they support our plan as we get through this difficult time, until we effectively get back into a normal trading environment in 2027,” Emery explained.
“I can say despite the frustration that our dealers remain committed to us despite this hiccup in 2026 and they are communicating with their customers,” he said.
Emery said that with some customers who might buy 20 trucks a year from us, and the company will probably be able to keep supplying many of those customers through to early 2026 but there’s going to be a gap after that.
The Hino boss said that if the Australian market continues to soften a little bit then this will lessen the problem for the company, but that 2026 will still inflict some pain on the brand and its dealer network as they struggle to maintain supply to customers.
He admits the problem may open up opportunities for rival brands, but says the company is trying to manager this by communicating with customers early and openly.
“I think we’ve got all the steps in place to make sure that can that can work as smooth as we can, so it’s too early for me to kind of flag what that might mean for our volume in 2026 because obviously that will depend on where we finish this year, as to where we finish next year,” he said.
“Obviously, as you can imagine, behind those numbers is some build-up of 300 series, so that creates a smaller gap at the other end. So by the time we get to the middle of next year, we’ll know what 2026 looks like, but frankly it’s certainly not going to be a volume number starting with 5000, it’s probably going to be in the threes or fours,” said Emery.
He said that the company won’t know the extent of that for another 12 months or so, until they know what production numbers looks like there, although he added that with ongoing hybrid production it could mean that it’s going to maintain this level, because they are already Euro 6 so they don’t have a deadline to leave.
He also pointed to the fact that the company won’t have an issue with its heavy duty 700 series because it is also already Euro 6 compliant.
“It is fair to say that hybrid, and 700 series have never really hit its straps, and we will now be in a position to free up our supply line, particularly for 700 series, which has been a bit restrained over the last couple of years,” said Emery.
Emery says that he has challenged his team at Hino Australia internally and created a couple of logos which sets the goal of selling 1000 700 Series models and 1000 Hybrids a year, instead og the modest sales figures they currently log.
“I have no doubt that we can certainly unlock the potential of the 700 series and that it is a better truck than the four or five hundred a year that it is doing now,” said Emery.
Hino’s under loved 300 Hybrid is currently the brand’s only ‘low emission’ truck and Emery believes is a practical alternative to a full battery electric truck, which of course Hino is some years away from having in its range.
Currently 300 Series Hybrid sells around 350 units a year, but the Hino boss says he has challenged the team to take that to 1000
