“The major benefit of the Hino 300 Hybrid is fuel efficiency, which is very important in these days of high cost diesel fuel. We have recorded fuel savings of 19% in urban deployment and also tested the Hino 300 Hybrid in outlying areas and found that when alternated with urban usage these trucks gave average savings of approximately 14%. Drivers are happy with the diesel-electric hybrids and say there is no real difference in driving them and the Hino’s with only a combustion engine,” commented Louis Ungerer, Managing Director of SMSA Africa Logistics Group.

“Emission levels are far lower than those trucks with combustion engines, because the Hino 300 Hybrid is Euro 6 compliant. This assists us in lowering the carbon footprint of our company’s overall operations,” added Ungerer.

Namlog, which is now part of SMSA Africa Logistics Group, was founded in 2002 and a year later signed Toyota as a customer. SMSA Africa now distributes Toyota, Lexus and Hino parts and accessories from the Toyota Africa Parts Centre in Ekurhuleni to dealerships in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North-West, Northern Cape and Botswana.

The financial support to put the extra five Hino 300 Hybrid trucks into the SMSA fleet through a Full Maintenance Lease (FML) product was provided by KINTO South Africa. KINTO is Toyota Motor Corporation’s global mobility brand, with more than 45 international operations and KINTO South Africa is wholly owned by Toyota SA Motors.

KINTO SA offers includes a vehicle lease agreement together with service, maintenance, warranty, tracking and insurance for up to 60 months or 200 000km. KINTO SA currently operates a fleet of more than 7 500 Toyota, Lexus and Hino vehicles across more than 300 business customers.

“Hino South Africa is very pleased to be in a position to supply Hino 300 Hybrid trucks to SMSA as we are currently the only local truck manufacturer or importer offering a diesel electric model in the medium truck category,” said Anton Falck, Vice President of Hino SA. “This was a complex transaction, and it would not have happened without the three parties – SMSA, Hino and Kinto – coming to the table together to negotiate positively with the intention of getting the deal done.”

Anton Falck with Louis Ungerer

“Hino Motors Japan has embarked on a multi-pathway powertrain system to meet specific requirements from operators. For this reason, it offers, diesel combustion engines, diesel-electric hybrids, battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell energy sources. This is all part of a drive to meet Hino’s 2030 Environmental Milestone of reducing lifecycle CO2 emissions by 25% compared to fiscal 2013,” explained Falck.

Unlike many hybrid passenger cars which downsize engine capacity, Hino keeps the full-size diesel engine for the 300 Hybrid to ensure a long working life and under-stressed powertrain.

An electric motor is located between the clutch and gearbox, working in parallel with the 4-litre turbo-diesel engine to offer assistance that leads to improved efficiency and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The diesel engine and electric motor combined produce 111 kW of power and 470 N.m of torque, with maximum torque delivered as low as 1 200 r/min. The Hino 300 Hybrid uses a six-speed automated manual transmission (AMT), which can be manually overridden by the driver if required.

“Meeting and exceeding customer expectations of Hino trucks is our passion and providing parts when needed is vital in our striving to be market leader in this aspect of our business. Therefore, we are very pleased with our ongoing relationship with SMSA to deliver parts according to tight time schedules and for that reason we are glad they are increasing their fleet of reliable Hino trucks,” explained Falck.

“In terms of parts availability and supply we have a huge advantage over most of our competitors since our Hino parts are stored and managed in the state-of-the-art Toyota Africa Parts Centre (TAPC) in Ekurhuleni, which we share with Toyota SA Motors,” commented Anand Pather, Vice President: Toyota Africa Parts Centre and Accessories.

“This recently enlarged facility now covers 80 000m2, making it the largest of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. It serves not only South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Eswatini, and Lesotho, but also the export of Hino parts to 32 other African countries.

“We rely primarily on Japan as our global supply chain for Hino parts, but also source from Thailand and local suppliers. We stock 17 200 unique Hino part numbers to the value of R225 million. The whole operation is digital and much of it is automated to ensure quick response times to dealer orders. There are also special arrangements to fast-track vehicle-off-road (VOR) orders to ensure minimum downtime for our customers,” added Pather.

“Dealers located within a 100km radius from the TAPC get two deliveries a day and other dealers get daily deliveries. Besides getting parts quickly the dealers also benefit from a 95% first time pick rate from stock held in the warehouse,” concluded Pather.