Hino Motors, Ltd. will take part in Dakar Rally 2022, which will be held in Saudi Arabia from January 2 to 14, 2022, as Hino Team Sugawara.
Hino’s First Hybrid Systems for Races
As Hino competed in Dakar Rally for the first time as a Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer in 1991 and achieved the 12th straight victory at the previous competition, Hino will participate in the rally for the 31st time with the unfaltering willingness to take on challenges.
For Dakar Rally 2022, which will be the third one held in Saudi Arabia, Hino will considerably revamp the bonnet-type truck (based on a vehicle exclusively for the North American market) used in the race in 2020. We have been developing our vehicle through reducing the vehicle weight and adding overwhelming power performance with Hino’s first hybrid system for races and a high-horsepower engine, to get top-ranked without fail.
Through the endeavor to compete in the rally, which cannot be experienced in the development of mass-produced vehicles, young engineers grow, and by using the HV technology that has been nurtured by Hino for many years in this endeavor, it is possible to polish the control technology for future EVs and improve Hino’s technological capability.
In the truck section of Dakar Rally, monster trucks whose engine displacement exceeds 10 litres dominate the top ranks. Under the motto: “Smallness overcomes largeness,” Hino Team Sugawara has been running neck and neck with rivals by utilizing its experience and techniques developed for 30 years, and broke its former record.
Hino will continue development and tests, to mature their vehicles, and endeavor to compete in the rally that is said to be “the hardest in the world” in Saudi Arabia.
