Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's 355th batch of new announcements were announced, and the GAC Hino Tractor using Dongkang Z14 engine in the announcement caught my attention. This is the biggest time that the Hino brand has touched me the most after the listing of the "GAC Hino Zhen value system". Thinking about GAC Hino's operation, it was "unexpected and reasonable." The market has made Hino "learn to be obedient" in China, and it is a good thing to compromise with the market (showing respect for the market).
Hino Truck announcement image with Cummins Z14 engine
It's just that in my opinion, this compromise came too late and didn't help much for its future development in China. Why do I make this judgment? What information is revealed behind gahino health machines? If you are interested in these questions, you will listen to me, but I also declare in advance that this remark only represents my personal views, and if you disagree, it is your right.
Can gagac Hino tractors with health machines open up sales? I'm not bullish
First of all, I would like to explain my point of view: I am not optimistic about the GAC Hino tractor equipped with a health machine, and it can be seen from the comments below the relevant reports that there are not a few people who hold my view. The reason is very simple: with Kangji and ZF, GAC Hino and friends to further "homogenize"; in the case of cab comfort is inferior to competitors, the price is completely unopposed, in addition to a Hino standard, many users really can't think of any reason to buy it.
(Dongfeng Tianlong flagship with Z14)
Why does GAC Hino need to be equipped with a kang machine?
It's easy to look at a thing and draw conclusions and make judgments. The question is the question I can think of, will the people of GAC Hino not think of it? Since the prospects of the model of the paikang machine are not optimistic, why does GAC Hino still do this?
The problem is definitely the "engine"!
GAC Hino's model development relies on the Japanese side, and the parent company Hino's flagship E13C series engine, the most powerful model has a maximum horsepower of only 517 horses (maximum torque 2160N/M, weight 1250KG). This parameter configuration of the engine is simply not enough to see in today's China. The corresponding Dongkang Z14 engine, with a displacement of 13.48L, the maximum output can cover 480-600 horsepower, of which the 560-horsepower model (this one with GAC Hino) can burst peak torque of 2650 Nm at 900-1400 rpm, and its own weight is controlled below 1000KG.
Dongfeng Cummins Z14 engine
In this way, we can see the embarrassing situation of GAC Hino, which has lagged behind competitors with its own engines and does not meet the current domestic demand for cars; purchased engines can catch up with competitors, but will bring a very large negative impact on cost control and differentiation. The former endangers survival, the latter still has a glimmer of life (relying on brand beliefs to more or less have sales), the lesser of two evils, the choice of Kangji is also reasonable.
There is a deep reason behind it
Nowadays, the existing Japanese heavy-duty truck brands in China are Hino and Isuzu, and the dilemma faced by GAC Hino is the epitome of the entire Japanese heavy-duty truck in China. This is different from the situation in the 1990s, when Japanese trucks ran all over the ground. So today, why do Japanese heavy trucks perform so well in China?
If you want to say that Hino does not have technical strength, I definitely disagree with this, or take the engine as a matter. Hino's E13C engine was born in 2003, when the so-called heavy-duty trucks in Japan (most of which are quasi-heavy trucks) were still powered by the 3-character head. Unfortunately, 20 years have passed, and Hino is standing still. Even if it is later surpassed by the Chinese engine in terms of power, even if it is a cylinder expansion or technology introduction with Hino's heritage, there is no problem in catching up with the Chinese engine. So why didn't Hino just don't do that?
attitude! Hino's attitude is wrong!
The attitude mentioned here should be divided into two aspects, the first aspect is accurately "philosophy", and the Japanese people's meticulous style of doing things is engraved in the bones. Things that can be done with a penny will never use two points, and not wasting is the concept of others. Speaking of heavy trucks, from the perspective of the domestic car environment in Japan and the main overseas markets of Japanese heavy trucks, the power within 500 horses is absolutely enough, and the fact is that even in the European market, where the power is very serious, the mainstream power range of heavy trucks is only around 500 horsepower (like scania's 770 horsepower engine, which is somewhat showy). As a result, Japanese heavy-duty truck manufacturers do not have a strong willingness to develop engines with greater horsepower.
But the situation in our country is very different, the geographical area, complex geographical environment and other factors have prompted domestic users to prefer to choose models with more horsepower, models such as 560 horsepower can be seen everywhere, and the next 600+ horsepower models will be launched one after another. In this way, Japanese heavy trucks in China appear to be "unsatisfied" and not recognized by the market.
The second aspect of attitude is the "arrogance" of manufacturers in the Chinese market. If adhering to the concept of enough can also be explained as "mindset", then the "arrogance" of the market is the bane of today's Japanese heavy truck performance in the Chinese market. Take Hino as an example, in 2007 came to China to build a joint venture factory, when its heavy truck performance was indeed higher than China's heavy trucks, but Hino did not make a compromise on the Chinese market, but adhered to the "high-end" positioning, focusing on the blank market between China's heavy trucks and European imported heavy trucks, but at that time the domestic market was still dominated by low-end, so sales were few, and later when the high-end market improved slightly, it underestimated the development speed of China's heavy trucks, compared with domestic high-end heavy trucks, its advantages were gradually lost. It can be said that in the process of all the way, in the face of the golden development period of China's heavy truck market, it has missed every step.
Hino developed the 600 series trucks for the North American market
On the other hand, Hino is willing to develop the long-term 600 series for the US market, and in the face of the larger Chinese market, he has never thought of developing a "special model" for the Chinese market to conquer the low-end market, which is really puzzling to me. Hino thought that if he could sell well in China in the past, he could continue to sell, but he did not know that the market was always changing. Insensitive to the market and slow to act, is it not "arrogance" at work?
Editor's Note:
Nowadays, step by step, in the face of the localization of European cards and the upward movement of China's heavy trucks, the living space left for Japanese heavy trucks will only become smaller and smaller. Even if the Japanese heavy truck compromises on the market and catches up to live well, there is still little hope, which is really not something that can be solved by changing an engine.
After all, the complexity of China's heavy-duty truck market is not comparable to any other region, and in-depth understanding of the Chinese market and respect for the Chinese market are the basis for survival. Maybe now GAC Hino understands this truth, but is it too late?
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