Most Powerful Japanese Truck

Fuso can rightfully claim the Shogun 510, which has been announced as one of the four contenders for the Truck of the Year Australasia 2023 award, which will be presented at the Brisbane Truck Show on May 18, is the most powerful Japanese truck on the market. The criteria for being a contender is that this model has made a contribution, to the standards of safety and efficiency of transport of goods by road, taking into account the particular characteristics of the Australasian truck market.

With a similar mixed heritage, European/Japanese, the UD Quon only gets the 11 litre engine, limiting it to 460hp. The purely Japanese Hino 700 does have a 13 litre, but the conservative Hino engineers don’t let it rate above 480hp in Australia.

Fuso initially moved over to 11 litre engines about the same time as UD made the move in the Volvo group, the power and torque available is acceptable for most of their export markets. However, the Fuso organisations in Australia and New Zealand have clearly made a strong enough case, to the parent company, for development funds to be allocated to the project to get a bigger Japanese banger over the line. 

That power from the Daimler OM471 is evident from the right foot, when pulling a B-double. There’s enough in the locker to keep up the momentum and return to cruising speed after a hold up. That’s where the 2500Nm (just under 1850 ft lb) of torque comes in handy. It’s hard to believe you are driving a Japanese truck whose engine outputs closely match those of a well specified American highway prime mover from not so many years ago.

From the driver’s point of view there is always a feeling about the quality of the torque developed by any engine and this is something on which Japanese engines have struggled to deliver. Driving this 510 you feel confident that the engine is going to deliver and the quality of torque is evident when the truck digs in on a climb.

Climbing up the grade on the Western Highway, heading for Ballarat, it is clear the confidence is justified, as the truck pulls up over the rise in 10th gear at 1350rpm doing 50km/h. This is a B-double loaded to 55 tonnes! This is a Japanese truck! No need to say more. 

Driving this truck does have some familiar aspects when comparing the Shogun with Benz and Freightliner. The steering wheel is very familiar, as are some of the switches dials and displays. It also doesn’t have an ignition key, instead it uses the slide in-unit, which works very much like putting a music cassette into a seventies car tape player, for those who like to reminisce about the good old days. 

We can’t look at the new Fuso 510 without looking at the innovations which arrive with the Shogun prime mover, it’s all about the electronic bells and whistles which are included in the package, and there are plenty in here.

The spec sheet for this truck is a mass of three letter abbreviations. We are familiar with the AMT in the driveline and the SCR and DPF cleaning up the exhaust. The daytime running lights and low beam are LED. The braking system uses ABS, ASR and ESP to stop the truck, limit slipping and control stability. There’s also ECAS controlling the rear suspension.

Then there is the Active Safety suite included in the model, which offers us ABA5, PD, AAA, PCA and LDWS. Most of these use the video camera centrally at the bottom of the windscreen and the radar in the bumper to assess the situation in front of the truck.

Active Brake Assist warns the driver and gives them full braking when a vehicle in front is in danger of a collision. This is not quite Autonomous Emergency Braking but the generation before it. Pedestrian Detection analyses the video feed and if a pedestrian is detected to be in danger from the truck, it will sound a warning and hit the brakes.

The lane departure warning system is one of those which we have all become familiar with. Some of us will turn it off and others will use it as a backup to careful driving, plus fatigue early warning.

Then we go onto the ‘entertainment’ system, which goes well beyond the old radio and CD player concept. The unit is designed specifically for Australia and comes with truck specific satnav, five camera capability, plus all of the radio/USB/phone connectivity we have come to expect. Rear parking sensor and tyre pressure monitoring are also options available.

What this truck represents is not an alternative to its stable mates, but a different truck with different attributes. Yes, with all of the innovations which arrive with the Shogun prime mover, there is a common engine, transmission and many common safety features, but it will perform a different function. Handling tasks hauling trailers in and out of city locations with a robust Japanese prime mover with plenty of power under the cab is the sweet spot for this truck.

With such a high engine cover, this is not a truck in which the driver is going feel comfortable spending the night, particularly, but hauling containers or supermarket distribution is going to be a breeze.