There’s some big changes coming at Daimler Trucks Australia that will see the biggest shakeup with the company in more than 20 years.
In fact about 20 years ago when Daimler purchased first a 25 per cent share in Fuso and then later in the 2000s when it took a controlling interest in the Japanese truck and bus maker, arguably saving it from extinction, few would have or could have imagined the German global truck giant having to divest itself of the Fuso brand in Australia. However that is exactly what is going to have to happen sometime in the next few months.
Today, 1 April is the day that Daimler signs off on Fuso’s insertion into the much vaunted joint venture with troubled fellow Japanese truck maker, Hino.
In a strange quirk of competition rules and because Daimler in Australia already manages other brands, the company can no longer be the distributor of Fuso in this country and it has to appoint what is quaintly know as a GD or general distributor for the brand that has been its volume truck seller in this country for the past two decades.
Even though the new joint venture will produce trucks badged as both Hino and Fuso in the future and despite the fact that Hino Australia will continue to distribute its brand here, Daimler is precluded from doing the same with Fuso, on the basis that it will hild unfair market advantage, or some such situation. At this point in time when Daimler 
execs tried to explain it to us, our eyes glazed over.
All this means a major shake up at Daimler Truck Australia HQ in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave. So ostensibly Daimler will still have a major shareholding in the new Fuso Hino JV, known as Archeon, but won’t be able to wholesale the trucks in Australia.
Apparently the company chosen to be the new ‘GD’ is not far off and will be known soon but in the meantime Daimler Truck Australia will still be seloling Fuso for at least the rest of this year.
Kind of strange then to be given the chance to drive a newly updated Fuso Shogun fitted with a more powerful and torquier 13 litre engine, now with 530hp and 2600Nm of torque, along with a new cab interior and updated exterior styling, a bunch more safety equipment and less interior noise.
A couple of hundred kilometres behind the wheel of the Shogun 530 showed us indicators of possible the best Japanese heavy duty truck we have ever driven and with a GCM of 70 tonnes apopears to be right in the sweet spot for intra-state distribution work.
Along with the Shogun we also got the chance to have a quick spin in a Built Ready Fuso Canter which has a refreshed Euro6 engine, new ISRI seats and also a bunch of extra interior features.
Interestingly Daimler says that the revisions have removed the payload advantage almost every model in the Canter range claims to have over its competitors.
The revised 3.0-litre four-cylinder and its 110kW version gains 30Nm more torque with the company pointing out that the Rosa bus has had a Euro 6 version of this engine in locally since 2020, so it has plenty of real-world experience with the technology.
The most noticeable upgrade inside is the addition of new ISRI driver and passenger seats, which offer a high level of support and comfort, for all models except Crew Cabs and we have to say this was the most obvious improvement in our opinion, and our back and bottom was very appreciative of the change. The little truck also gains auto mode air con as standard in the upgrade.
All these things will be great sales ammunition fir whoever comes on as Fuso ‘GD’ in the coming months but ultimately won’t help Daimler locally longer term.
Which made the other test drive ‘sample’ we were treated to in Melbourne this week an interesting part of the overall mix.
It was the highly esteemed and admired Mercedes-Benz Atego medium duty truck which 
has been given a bit of a makeover and had some sharp scissor work around its pricing in recent weeks, interestingly to bring it into the gaze of medium duty buyers who in the past would have been more pre-disposed to buying a Fuso Fighter or the equivalents from Isuzu or Hino.
Of course at some point in the future Daimler won’t be selling the Fuso Fighter so its clear that the Atego will need to be its front line weapon in the fight for medium duty sales.
In this 14 tonne medium duty rigid market the Atego, given Daimler says its pricing will match that of an equivalent Fuso Fighter for the foreseeable future, could be a compelling opportunity particularly for fleets that have relationships with the Daimler stable.
The Atego is a very refined and comfortable medium duty machine and Daimler has made some changes to the cab to make it similar in internal dimensions to the Fighter.
We had a brief drive in Melbourne’s inner western suburbs around the profusion of warehouses, factories and data centres that have overtaken the paddocks that once surrounded the Western Freeway. This is the heartland for trucks like this. They work in and out of the traffic carting the things that are necessities of business and life.
European trucks do have a degree or two more refinement that most of their equivalent Japanese medium duty opponents and the Atego is no exception. The six-speed AMT transmission is smooth and efficient in its changes and the 7.7 litre Benz six cylinder with 1100Nm of torque in the 1427 model we drove proved both quiet and spirited in its performance.
There is also a refinement in the cab that is a level above and given that Daimler is saying the price is going to be close to the equivalent Fighter, Daimler may just have an attractive and viable player in this market when it has to divest itself of Fuso responsibities.
Earlier in the day at the wheel of the Fuso Shogun with its bold new grille treatment and extra torque and neddies, we found what it revealed on the drive pleasantly surprising.
Not only does the extra torque and well chosen gearing make the Shogun a much better proposition in the upper end of the intra urban distribution market it shows very real signs of just what Daimler has brought to Fuso in the past two decades.
Like the European sourced Mercedes Atego, the new Shogun has a very European feel to it. This is particularly so in terms of the performance of its 13 litre Benz sourced power plant mated to the superb 12-speed Daimler AMT. The engineers have got the equations right with this truck and the climb up the Pentland Hills toward Ballarat showed strong performance.
With a gross of around 38 tonnes on board the Shogun climbed the hills with ease and without fuss. The engine hung in there and kept delivering and on the first significant climb the AMT only went back to 11th while on the second more severe climb it still only slotted back to 10th while engine revs and road speed were maintained at a very respectable level.
Despite being baulked coming up the entry ramp on to the Freeway the torque of the engine powered it up onto the dual carriageway with efficiency and safety.
Even with the sever climbing we averaged around 2.3 km to the litre and reckon it would be a whole lot better running on the flat.
Inside the new Shogun gets all the bells and whistles, including leather trimmed ISRI seats with an attractive hatch pattern along with safety features including seven radars fr all the latest safety tech including adaptive cruise control, which worked a treat on the drive.
There is also a really well sized infotainment screen that connects with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, all of which makes life for a Shogun driver lot easier than in the past, underlining the European influence we mentioned the Daimler ownership has brought to Fuso.
It will be interesting to see how the entire Daimler Fuso- Toyota Hino marriage will work, from today (1 April) onwards, but at least until it has to give up the brand in Australia, Daimler has got some excellent Japanese product to sell, as well as that far more attractive Mercedes-Benz Atego bringing some European sophistication to the medium duty fight.
