“The momentum from November to December has carried over into January and early signals are that it is going to be another growth year for medium-duty truck sales,” said Dominik Beckman, Hino Trucks’ director of marketing and dealer operations. “Taking into account that housing values and consumer confidence are returning to pre-recession levels, unemployment is below 5% and stock market performance is strong, there could be tremendous opportunity for any vocation supporting new construction projects in 2017.”
Hino Trucks is poised to capitalize on the strength of the medium-duty market. Thanks to management efficiency tools like Hino’s INSIGHT, its fully integrated connectivity platform featured on its 2017 model year vehicle lineup and the recently announced Certified Ultimate dealer initiative, Hino has evolved into an ownership experience business partner. The OEM also offers 24/7 care, maintenance programs, programs and extend warranties reaching out to seven years.
“Our dealer network is extremely important to us, as our dealers are an extension of the Hino Trucks brand and the value that comes with it to customers,” Beckman said. “Our value has evolved beyond the truck itself to industry-leading support services and integrated solutions that deliver superior ownership experience—and these advantages can only be accomplished in partnership with our dealers.”
Designed to raise the bar for an overall dealership experience, the Certified Ultimate program rounds out Hino’s Ultimate Ownership Experience positioning with new standards for parts, sales and service departments that increase speed, aid communication and provide for higher levels of technical certification. Once recognized as Certified Ultimate, these select Hino dealers are evaluated quarterly and are required to qualify for this elite status on an annual basis. There are currently seven Certified Ultimate dealers and Hino plans for at least 20 by the end of the year.
“It is truly a new level of commitment from our dealer network to not only achieve Certified Ultimate status, but also to retain it,” Beckman explained. “The result is improved customer satisfaction and ownership experience, ultimately increasing customer loyalty.”
Monitoring and improving driver performance, maintenance scheduling, service tracking, dealer communication and improving fleet operation efficiencies are a few of the ways that fleet managers are using Hino’s INSIGHT connectivity platform to improve their operation.
“We are pursuing additional ways that we can help our customers to be more efficient and effective in serving their customers as well as solutions that can increase uptime even further,” Beckman said. “Having INSIGHT in every new truck is a powerful productivity resource. We have only scratched the surface of the potential that this technology offers.”
