Hino 500 goes automatic

Automatic transmission will be available for the best selling FC 1022 and FD 1124 500 series.

Until now, drivers of medium-duty 500 models have had little choice but to shift gears in the traditional way, despite the growing popularity of automated transmissions every year. 

The new transmission, dubbed ProShift 6, is an automated version of the six-speed manual that is available as standard. It's a two-pedal system, which means the driver doesn't have to press the clutch to start or stop, as is the case with some automatic transmissions. 

The automatic transmission will be available for the top-selling 1022 series FC 1124 and FD 500 models, but over time Hino Australia plans to make it available for heavier models as well. 

Alex Stewart, Head of Product at Hino Australia, says the company needed to offer an automated option given the strong demand in the small, medium-duty machine market. 

“Over the past five years, there has been a very clear sales trend towards fully automatic or automated manual transmissions,” he says. 

“If you project these figures, you will see that by 2015, 50 percent of all trucks sold will be automated or fully automatic.

If we didn't, we would have lost a large part of the market." Stewart says not all customers will opt for automated manual control, despite its fuel-saving benefits, due to the reduced Gross Train Mass (GCM), which is the maximum weight of the truck, cargo and trailer. 

“The 11-tonne FD truck has a gross weight of 20 tonnes with a manual transmission, you put automated manual controls on it, and it has a gross weight of 16 tonnes,” Stewart explains. "That's quite normal for any manufacturer with an automated manual transmission."