Australia’s top-selling truck brand has just handed over the keys to its 200,000th truck in Melbourne this week.
Isuzu Australia Limited (IAL) joined with construction materials giant Hanson to celebrate the milestone and deliver yet another of Isuzu’s popular FYJ 2000 Agitator trucks into Hanson’s fleet.
Hanson’s General Manager of Logistics, Mr Scott Tipping, congratulated Isuzu on the hard-fought achievement and expressed the importance of the continuing collaboration between the two industry leaders.
“It’s a massive accomplishment and it’s a real reflection of Isuzu’s standing and prominence within the Australian truck market.
“To roll out 200,000 trucks you need to have a product that people want to keep buying and a reputation people want to be a part of,” he said.
“For us, serving our own customers is extremely important and to achieve that, we need to have a reliable fleet – Isuzu’s trucks have certainly ticked that box for us.”
IAL National Sales Manager, Les Spaltman, said the Hanson collaboration continues to grow, and the market leader was delighted to deliver the milestone truck to one of its most valued partners.
“Everyone at Hanson has been great to deal with over the journey and its fitting that we’re handing over one of our brand new FYJ 2000 Agitators as IAL’s 200,000th truck sold,” he said.
The FYJ 2000 Agitator
The popularity of Isuzu’s FY Series really took flight back in 2012 with the release of the FYJ 2000, FYH 2000 and FYX 2500 (10×4).
All three models benefitted from damped mechanical load-sharing between two Meritor steer axles, allowing for a front axle group capacity of 13,200 kg and a GVM ranging between 30,000 and 35,000 kg.
“IAL worked closely with Isuzu Motors (Japan) engineers for a number of years in the lead up to that release, and the end result is a range that we are very proud of and one that has been a huge success locally,” Mr Spaltman said.
“We’ve continued to refine the offering with some important additions in recent times such as Isuzu’s Electronic Stability Control (IESC) on the FYJ 2000 Agitator specification, and some custom tweaks for customers like of Hanson, such as vertical exhaust stacks.”
Truck of choice
The FYJ 2000 Agitator has become Hanson’s truck of choice in recent times as Scott Tipping explained.
“The primary mode of transport across Hanson’s concrete operations is the twin-steer agitator trucks and for the last couple of years Isuzu has been the sole supplier of those vehicles to Hanson,” he said.
“We simply can’t have trucks off the road, and we have a demanding customer base buying a perishable product, so reliability is absolutely critical to us.
“If you look at the specific features of the FYJ, the reliability is a standout compared with previous trucks we’ve had in that application. They are extremely reliable trucks.”
Over achiever
Isuzu’s FYJ 2000 continues to deliver on its promise of reliability for the likes of Hanson, and it belongs to a model lineup that has blossomed into a market spike for Isuzu, who, since introducing the range, have begun punching well above their weight in the heavy-duty truck market segment.
“Since we released the comprehensive FY Series range in 2012, we’ve had some of our most encouraging sales results to date at the heavy end,” Les Spaltman explained.
“Whilst we enjoy very strong market share in the light and medium-duty segments, European and American brands have traditionally had a strangle-hold on the heavy market.
“With the FYJ 2000 Agitator in particular, we identified a gap in the market and have managed to disrupt things somewhat, which is great to see.”
Meeting the brief
The suitability of the model is not lost on Hanson either. And with some of the country’s largest infrastructure projects on their books, Hanson’s growing fleet of Isuzu FYJs is proving its mettle in the toughest of environments.
“The Isuzu product has met our needs and Isuzu has been really receptive in listening to our feedback and requirements as they move and change,” Mr Tipping said.
“Ride comfort is the main form of feedback we get back from our drivers. The ride comfort on the road is not as harsh as some of the other truck brands we’ve had in the past.”
“The drivers I speak to, when I ask them about the FYJs, say that the truck is a very comfortable to operate and drive on a daily basis.”
New ground
This week’s handover heralds in a new chapter for Australia’s leading truck manufacturer as the Isuzu trucks brand is set to achieve 28 consecutive years of market leadership at the close of 2016.
“This handover with Hanson really drives home the need for Isuzu Australia to continue building relationships and nurturing genuine collaboration between industries,” IAL’s Les Spaltman said.
“Whilst it’s true we’re providing a product to get the job done, by continuing to work closely with, and understand the needs of a business like Hanson, we can achieve positive outcomes in a whole range of areas from health and safety to smarter human resourcing.
“I’m extremely proud to be a part of today’s event, and we look forward to being an honest and innovative part of the Australian road transport landscape for another 200,000 Isuzu trucks.”
