SA Projects moves from utes to trucks

Across the board, Australian truck companies have experienced a growing trend of customers looking to step into car licenced rated vehicles with a GVM of up to 4500kg, with multiple factors making the switch an easy choice.

Brisbane-based builder Scott Andersen is just one of the professional tradespeople who have parked their 4x4 ute in favour of a truck, acquiring a Hino 300 Series TradeAce for his growing business in late 2021.

With COVID-19 fuelling expansion, SA Project’s workload of large and small projects, from renovations to decks and shop fit-outs, put added pressure on Scott’s jam-packed Nissan Navara.

Considerations that made the transfer simple included convenience, safety and the performance provided by the latest generation of light-duty trucks.

“I actually towed a trailer originally, and that’s why I got sick of it. I couldn’t park anywhere, it was just a pain in the arse really,” said Scott.

“Another issue was that sometimes I would have to tow an extra trailer every now and then to make things work, because I couldn’t fit everything in my ute, but now I’ve got heaps of space.

“Now I run everything I had in my trailer, plus more, and have a massive amount of tray space left over to fit extra gear in.

“Every now and then, it strikes me that a job would have taken an extra two hours because I would have had to have gone home or the shed and pick up the other trailer, running backwards and forwards.”

Scott also noted that dedicating the truck to work duties saves wear and tear on his ute, which was on the receiving end of the typical punishment dished out on work sites.

While his past truck experience didn’t leave a great impression, the latest generation Hino 300 Series with its full safety suite and automatic transmission is eye-opening.

“To be honest, I didn’t really want to buy a truck because I’ve driven trucks before when I’ve worked for other people, and I just thought they were uncomfortable,” said Scott.

“The Hino is definitely the best one you can buy, I reckon. It’s nice inside. My wife drove it the other day for the first time, and she was like, ‘wow, it’s not like driving a truck at all!’”

With work spread all around the south-east corner of Queensland, Scott covers anywhere between 300 to 400 kilometres a week, including a mix of city and highway driving, with the Hino 300 Series taking it all in its stride.

“I’ve had it loaded up, probably with a tonne of timber in the back, and it doesn’t drive any differently, it drives exactly the same. It’s the same towing the cage trailer full of rubbish, you just don’t know it’s there; it’s got plenty of power for a truck, that’s for sure,” said Scott.

Scott secured the truck via Sci-Fleet Hino, with the readymade Built to Go package significantly cutting down the traditional delivery time for the vehicle by skipping the body building stage.

“Nathan Murdoch (Sci-Fleet Hino Sales Manager) was definitely very helpful, I was sorted and approved in just under a week, and the wait time wasn’t bad either, I only had to wait six or seven weeks,” said Scott.

Scott isn’t alone in trading in his ute for the convenience of a truck.

Across the four leading brands of car-licenced light-duty trucks, 2021 saw an impressive 39 per cent lift in sales, with a total of 13,260 new vehicles hitting the road.

Within the Hino stable alone, 300 Series car-licenced trucks grew in importance for the brand, lifting from 34 per cent of total sales in 2020 to 39 per cent last year.

For the truck companies, it is no coincidence, with a concerted effort seeing the quality and inclusions of the various light-duty ranges continuing to improve to meet customer expectations.

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“The light-duty segment is the fastest growing in the Australian truck market at the moment, with car-licenced trucks rated below 4,500kg GVM the fastest growing sub-segment of the light-duty market,” said Brian Wright General Manager – Sales and Supply Chain, Hino Motor Sales Australia.

“There has been an increasing focus for Hino towards our car-licenced truck range and engaging with trades-orientated customers, who have been driving utes in the past and running close to their legal load capacities.”

For Hino, a core aim for this market segment has been to produce a car-like suite of safety systems, which has been implemented as standard across the board.

“Our 300 Series light-duty range features Hino SmartSafe, a comprehensive safety package which includes Vehicle Stability Control, Pre-Collision System with Autonomous Emergency Braking, Pedestrian Detection and Lane Departure Warning System – all of the active safety features that people have become used to in their cars are now standard in the Hino range,” said Brian.

The other strong suit of the model line-up is the availability of the Built to Go range, which offers a high quality, cost-effective and versatile solution that is ready to drive away.

The offering includes Tippers, Alloy Tray, SteelAce and TradeAce options, all customised for specific trade applications.

“Within our Built to Go range, our most popular model is TradeAce.

“This versatile truck features an alloy tray back with ladder racks and nudge bar, and accounts for a high percentage of our overall segment sales, and it’s the truck that is most aligned with the ute segment,” concluded Brian.