Hino South Africa posted sales of 3 333 trucks for 2022 – 9.4% higher than the figure for 2021, but still 417 units below the retail sales target of 3 750 units originally set for last year.

This growth follows a swift recovery from the 41-day shutdown of its Durban plant, owing to flooding in April.

Hino’s sales were made up of 606 200-Series units, which are included in the light commercial vehicle segment. (The Hino 200 was previously marketed as the Toyota Dyna).

Hino 300-Series sales, in the medium commercial vehicle segment, reached 1 512 units, up from 1 421 in 2021.

Hino heavy truck sales also increased, with 995 units sold in 2022, compared with 744 units in 2021.

Hino sales in the extra-heavy category, at 213 units, were, however, below the 338 trucks sold in 2021.

The local arm of the Japanese truck builder is also currently awaiting the arrival of the new-generation 700-Series heavy truck.

Hino says the extensive flooding and subsequent cleanup process took a heavy toll on its operations, as 78 built-up trucks or completely knocked down kits of components had to be destroyed.

The company also lost about 550 vehicles out of scheduled production before production restarted on May 23.

About 100 assembly line workers went home for the first week after the floods, and then returned in batches in the following weeks to assist in the flood recovery programme.

The original production plan for 2022 required the assembly of 4 105 trucks.

This was revised down to 4 085 units, with actual production coming within 124 units of this target.

“This has been a very tough year for Hino and I am delighted at the manner in which all those concerned, be they team members at the assembly plant or our loyal dealer network, made every effort to lessen the effect of the enforced shutdown,” says Hino South Africa GM Pieter Klerck.

“The result was that our sales and production results were far better than originally anticipated when we surveyed the extent of the flood damage.”