1991 Hino truck still 'going strong'

Wanganui transport company Dave Hoskin Carriers Ltd took the keys to a brand new Hino truck yesterday. Ray Roberts (left), Hino Distributors NZ general manager, handed over the keys to company founder Dave Hoskin (centre) and operations manager Darrell Hoskin. Photo/Stuart Munro

When about 40 per cent of your truck fleet are Hinos, then adding another is no surprise.

That's what Wanganui transporters Dave Hoskin Carriers Ltd has done, taking delivery of a new FY 8 x 4 - one of the very latest offerings from Hino's Euro 5 700 series.

The keys were handed over by Ray Roberts, Hino Distributors NZ general manager, but it marked a milestone not only for Hoskin's but also Hino.

Hoskin Carriers have nine Hinos in their fleet of 32 trucks, including the first one the company bought in 1991. Company founder Dave Hoskin said that truck was still "going strong" and had ticked over more than two million kilometres.

This year Hino is celebrating a half century of sales in New Zealand which started with two Hino 195hp diesel trucks imported and assembled in Auckland, and sold to logging companies in Rotorua in 1964.

That pair represented the first of 15,000 Hino trucks sold in this country.

Trucks shift about 90 per cent of the total freight and Mr Roberts said with predictions of domestic freight growing by 75 per cent over the next 20 years, the industry was a competitive one. He said acknowledging customers such as Dave Hoskin Carriers was an important part of Hino's activities this year.