Hino notched up an amazing record of 34 consecutive finishes in the gruelling Dakar Rally, the toughest motorsport event in the world, when the 2026 rally-raid finished in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, on 17 January.

Hino notched up an amazing record of 34 consecutive finishes in the gruelling Dakar Rally, the toughest motorsport event in the world, when the 2026 rally-raid finished in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, on 17 January. Hino was, once again, the only truck from Asia to contest the 14-day event with the rest of the field coming from European truck makers.

The route this year was a loop from Yanbu to Yanbu, a total of 7 994 km with 4 840 km being timed special stage racing sections. The Hino finished 15^th out of 16 official finishers from an original field of 45 trucks. A rollover coming down a sand dune on the third last day cost the team more than two hours and pushed them down the finishers’ list. The team also suffered a punctured rear tyre 15 km from the finish but did not waste time changing it and drove to the finish line.

Hino was once again represented by Team Hino Sugawara, with Team Principal Teruhito Sugawara, son of the founder of the team, driving the truck to record his 20^th successive finish. His navigator was Hirokazu Somemiya, with Yuji Mochizuki, a technician, the third person in the truck.

The four-wheel drive racing truck is based on the bonneted Hino 600 Series truck made for the North American market, but very similar mechanically to the 500 Series models sold in South Africa.

The importance of this achievement for the Hino brand was underlined by the attendance of Makoto Wakamura, the Deputy Chief Compliance Officer (DCCO), at the finish of this important international rally-raid in Yanbu.

Commenting, Wakamura said “I’m glad the onboard crew, mechanics and support team united to deal with setbacks, while the high skills of the mechanics selected from Hino dealers in Japan, made a significant contribution to getting the truck to the end of a very tough race.

The Hino was one of the few medium sized trucks entered in the event and with its 9-litre engine. However, the Hino was still able to run in the top 10 for much of the event due to its durability and reliability.

Hino is one of the few makes that enter only one truck in the Dakar Rally. In fact, it has had only a singleton representative in 18 of the 34 Dakar Rallies in which the brand has competed since 1991. It’s most successful Dakar was the 1997 event from Dakar to Agadez and back to Dakar, in Africa, where it had three starters and finished 1,2,3 overall.

“We are, once again, very proud of this ongoing public display of Hino quality, durability and reliability in this increasingly popular endurance event,” said Itumeleng Segage, General Manager of Hino South Africa. “These attributes are a mainstay of our ongoing sales success in South Africa, where Hino has been a competitor in the truck market since 1972.”

Ends