There are some records in motorsport that make you sit up and take notice. Hino’s Dakar record is one of them. The Japanese truck manufacturer has entered the event 34 times and has recorded an official finish on every one of those occasions. Think about that for a moment. This is the Dakar, an event designed to break machines and people, and yet every time Hino has gone to the start, at least one of its trucks has made it to the finish. And now the company is preparing to do it all again.

Hino Team Sugawara will line up for the 2027 Dakar Rally from January 1 to 15 with one truck, an improved four-wheel drive, bonneted Hino 600 Series. It is a familiar formula for Hino because on many occasions it has tackled the Dakar with just a single entry. There is no second truck to fall back on if things go pear-shaped. One truck goes in and the job is to bring that truck home.

And that, perhaps more than anything, is what makes the 34 out of 34 finishing record so impressive. The Dakar does not hand out easy finishes. Around 8 000 km of rough terrain over 14 days, with limited supplies and equipment, is enough to find every weak point in a truck. Suspension, driveline, tyres, cooling systems, electrics and, of course, the people inside and around the vehicle are all put under enormous pressure.

The 2027 contender is based on the Hino 600 Series which finished 15th in the 2026 Dakar. South African operators will not see the bonneted 600 Series working on our roads because it is produced for the North American market. Underneath, however, it is mechanically similar to the Hino 500 Series that is well known in South Africa. That gives the Dakar effort a little more relevance to local Hino customers than might first meet the eye.

The man behind the wheel will once again be Teruhito Sugawara, son of Hino Team Sugawara founder Yoshimasa Sugawara. Teruhito has now completed the Dakar 20 times consecutively. That is some experience to have sitting in the cab when the route disappears into sand, rocks and the seemingly endless Saudi desert.

A first for the Archion Group
Hino’s relationship with the Dakar stretches back more than three decades and it has remained the sole representative of the Japanese truck industry in the event. For 2027 there is another interesting dimension. Hino will also be representing the Archion Group, the joint venture between Hino and Mitsubishi Fuso established earlier this year.

But there is another side to Hino’s Dakar programme that FleetWatch has always liked. It is not only about the driver and the racing truck. It is also about developing people.

Since 1995, Hino Motors Japan has selected technicians from its dealer network to become part of the Dakar operation. They are involved in preparing the truck before the rally and then supporting it during the event. To date, 67 technicians from 32 companies have been given the opportunity to work in this most unforgiving of workshops.

Now that is training! There is no comfortable workshop floor, no parts department just a few metres away and no easy option when something goes wrong. The truck has to keep moving and the technicians have to use their knowledge, judgement and practical skills under conditions few dealership workshops could ever reproduce. The lessons they take home must be immense.

The 2027 route will start and finish in King Abdullah Economic City on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. Ahead of the competitors will be about 8 000 km over 14 days. As always, the objective is simple to state but difficult to achieve: get to the finish.

For Hino, doing so would extend one of the most remarkable reliability records in the Dakar to 35 finishes from 35 attempts. Of course, nothing can be taken for granted in this event. The desert has a nasty habit of dealing out surprises and even the best prepared teams can be humbled in a matter of minutes.

That is precisely why the record carries so much weight. Dakar is not a laboratory test where conditions can be controlled. It is the real thing. Heat, dust, dunes, rocks, long days and mechanical punishment all combine to expose weaknesses very quickly.

So come January, there will be one Hino 600 heading out into the Saudi desert carrying a large piece of history on its shoulders. Can Hino make it 35 out of 35? We’ll be watching.

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