HINO’S SHIFTING focus
Even before the truck turned a wheel, there was not an ounce of doubt that Hino’s long wheelbase 2848 six-wheeler rigid would make light work of just about anything thrown at it.
And to be blunt, we threw plenty, but we’ll get to that shortly.
The simple basics are that the FS 2848 is a new addition to Hino’s 700-series heavy-duty line-up, based on a typical ‘Swiss cheese’ chassis stretched to a wheelbase just shy of 6.3 metres for body lengths up to almost 9.2 metres.
So, why the extra-long chassis now?
It’s a reasonable question given that the 700-series has been around for 12 years or more and for the most part, has been largely configured for prime mover duties and shorter rigid work in, say, truck and dog trailer roles. There’s also an eight-wheeler version of the 700-series but even its wheelbase is more than 300mm shorter than the latest new six-wheeler.
The answer lies in a piece of clever marketing and niche engineering principally targeting the rural sector and specifically, cattle carriers with concessional approval in some areas which allow full use of the model’s 28.3 tonne gross vehicle mass (GVM) rating.
Yet while rural roles are the main reason for the longer model’s creation, Hino has no intention of limiting the truck’s appeal to farming folk alone. Not for a moment! As Hino Australia’s manager of product strategy, Daniel Petrovski, states in a press release: “We have developed this truck at the specific request of our customers – it is suitable for any number of applications from general farm duties or cattle trucks to a 14-pallet rigid freight truck or a flat tray with a rear-mounted crane.”
In effect, anything requiring a long wheelbase,
