“We believe that service is the key to selling more trucks,” vp Derek Kaufman said at the unveiling of the company’s new Class 4-7 conventional straight truck line. “We don’t want our dealers to compete against one another when it comes to servicing our customers.”
That philosophy is behind Hino’s new “CityPak” strategy, which aligns dealers grouped within a 200-mile radius around 12 key cities in the United States, such as Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and Minneapolis.
Dealers in those areas will be linked together via a new Internet system so they can have access to each others parts inventory, truck orders, and customer lists – all so they can help each other provide better service to the customer, Kaufman explained.
On top of that, Hino is working with investor Penske Corp. to get its dealers access to Penske’s nine national collision repair centers so as to provide dealers with a wider range of body repair options for customers.
“We are also trying to link our dealers tighter together so we can get combined purchasing strengths and get a more centralized approach to serving the customer,” Kaufman added.
He noted that Hino wants to expand its current 80-dealer network to 120 within the next few years.
