The Fuso Shogun 510 has been announced as a finalist for Truck of the Year Australasia.
Australia’s most powerful Japanese truck is one of four finalists for the inaugural award, which seeks to shine a spotlight on the excellence of the product-hauling freight on our highways.
The Truck of the Year Australasia is judged on criteria used globally by existing International Truck of the Year awards, but also takes into account the particular characteristics of the Australian and New Zealand truck markets.
The other three finalists are the MAN TG3, the Kenworth K220, and the Iveco S-Way, with the winner announced at the Brisbane Truck Show (May 18-21).
Fuso will also present the Shogun 510 as a tipper for the first time at the show, while a prime mover version of the same truck will also be on hand.
The 510 Tipper specification model has the lightest tare weight of any tipper with 500hp-plus in Australia and New Zealand, which is a boost for productivity.
The Shogun 510 was developed specifically for Australian and New Zealand customers who asked for an advanced Japanese truck with more than 500hp and a mountain of torque.
Fuso listened and sourced a 13-litre OM471 engine from the Daimler Truck family, creating the ultimate Japanese truck that belts out 510hp and 2500Nm of torque while meeting Euro 6 emission standards, well ahead of local mandates. The package also includes a smart shifting DT12 fully Automated Manual Transmission (AMT), which is well-suited to the potent engine.
Fuso Truck and Bus Australia director, Alex Müller, was excited the 510 Shogun has been recognised as a finalist.
“We are very pleased to see the Shogun 510 make the finals of the Truck of the Year Australasia award,” he said.
“The Shogun 510 is a very special truck because it was developed for the hard working truck drivers of Australia and New Zealand. It is a great example of listening to your customers and giving them exactly what they want.”
Müller said the Shogun 510 combines the robustness of a Japanese truck with the power normally found in trucks from Europe and North America in a package that also includes the latest generation active safety technology.
“Australian and New Zealand customers love their horsepower and their Japanese trucks. We thought it made sense to combine them both and the Shogun 510 has been huge hit,” he said.
The Fuso Shogun is available as a prime mover that can be used for single trailer or B-double work. A rigid version was also made available recently and is a very popular specification for tipper and dog work thanks to its power and torque.
The Shogun 510 was put through an extensive durability testing regime, including an outback Australian test of an initial prototype in 2017. Extensive hot weather durability testing was also carried out in South Africa and a final production-ready test program was undertaken in Australia and New Zealand.