The Truck of the Year Australasia Award seeks to honour the truck making the greatest contribution to safety and road-transport efficiency in Australasia. The inaugural award, presented at the recent Brisbane Truck Show, spotlights the excellence of the products hauling freight on our highways. So, with great excitement, we announce Kenworth’s K220 the winner.

BUT FIRST, THE WINNER!

The Kenworth K220 has only been on the road for a short time, but already it’s shown itself to have spectacularly fulfilled the judging criteria. In addition to the K220, the trucks nominated for ToYA2023 were (in no particular order) MAN’s TG3, IVECO’s S-Way and the Fuso Shogun 510 – all worthy contenders in their own right.

“The Kenworth K220 is a massive step change for the Kenworth brand here in Australasia,” says Tim Giles, editor of PowerTorque magazine and chair of the 2023 award jury. “The K-Series has been with us for a long time, evolving time after time, but both the K200 and the K220, have seen complete transformations of a classic truck design. There are many innovations in this truck, too many to list here, but multiplex wiring, sophisticated electronics and the Eaton Endurant XD AMT stood out for the jury.”

The award was presented to Damian Smethurst, recently appointed managing director of Paccar Australia, at the opening of the truck show in Brisbane.

“What an honour and a privilege. We don’t do these things for the awards,” says Smethurst, “But we’ll certainly value and accept it wholeheartedly. The K Series is a legendary truck and the next evolution of that is the K220, and it has really hit the mark. Our engineers and product planning team led by Ross [Cureton] and Brad [May] and everyone back at Bayswater have really nailed it. We’ve listened to our customers and their needs, and are over the moon with the product we’ve been able to create for them.”

“Kenworth has to be recognised for what it’s done with the K model in one generational leap,” says Dave McCoid, editorial director at New Zealand Trucking Media. “As a contribution to safety in the context of the numbers sold, the K220 is exponentially significant. Yet it’s been done while retaining the aesthetic and character that’s such a key to the success of the model and the company.”

As is the case with the parent International Truck of the Year Award, the country distributors also receive a copy of the trophy presented by their member publication. In our region, that is of course Southpac Trucks, and in the week following the show, Dave McCoid presented CEO Maarten Durent, and general sales manager Richard Smart with their trophy.

“It’s nice to have a factory so close to us that understands our market where the engineers actually know the customers by name,” says Maarten. “Where customers ask for specific features, and specifications with engineers that not only speak the same language but live in a similar environment where they can make adjustments specifically for Australia and New Zealand. I think that’s why the model is such a success.”

“It’s good to shine a spotlight on this part of the world, because the gear is unique,” says Richard. “It’s different from American, and even European gear down here is built for purpose and specific to our market. It is good to recognise this corner of the world.”

Four fabulous and worthy contenders that caused some serious head scratching, soul searching, and ‘robust’ conversation:

BACKGROUND

The award
Under the International Truck of the Year (IToY) Award, Truck of the Year Australasia (ToYA) joins two sanctioned regional awards already in existence – Truck of the Year Latin America and Chinese Truck of the Year. The title of ToYA will be awarded to the truck that meets criteria based on those used globally by the three existing awards and also considers the particular characteristics of the Australasian truck market.

The IToY award was initially launched in 1977 by the British journalist and legendary editor of TRUCK magazine, Pat Kennett. Every 12 months, a body of leading commercial vehicle journalists in Europe would determine a vehicle that stood out above all others. The coveted award, and therefore the influence of the jury in delivering better trucks worldwide for the past four and a half decades, is not to be underestimated.

Today, the 24 jury members represent leading commercial vehicle magazines throughout Europe.

In the past few years, the IToY Group has extended its influence by appointing one ‘associate member’ in the growing truck markets of China, India, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Iran, New Zealand, Israel and Malaysia. The combined truck operator readership of the 24 IToY full-jury members’ magazines and those of its 10 associate members exceeds 1,100,000.

As International Truck of the Year jury associate members, Tim Giles, PowerTorque editor, and Dave McCoid, New Zealand Trucking Media editorial director, represent the Australasian trucking media internationally. They both have spent their lives working in the road transport industry.

“In 2022, New Zealand Trucking magazine and our Australian associate member colleague, PowerTorque magazine, began discussing an award for our region. Australasia is highly regarded on the international commercial vehicle journalism scene for its variation in topography, climate and the outrageously cosmopolitan nature of our fleet make- up and associated trailing systems. Our enquiry was met and ratified with enthusiasm. We are extremely excited by the opportunity to celebrate our region’s vehicles in this way,” says Dave McCoid.

To choose ToYA winners, a jury of five will assess the trucks nominated each year. Apart from Tim and Dave, South Africa’s IToY member Charleen Clarke, editor of Focus on Transport and Logistics, will be joined by long-time Australian trucking industry stalwart Bob Woodward, recently retired as the Australian Trucking Association chief engineer, and Randolph Kovich, publisher of Deals on Wheels from New Zealand.

Tim and Dave have driven all the nominated trucks. In years to come, we hope to enable other jury members to sit in the driver’s seat.

The award will be an annual event hosted in alternate years in Australia and New Zealand, the first having been in Brisbane in May. A corresponding biennial event in New Zealand is planned for 2024.

The criteria
Choosing the nominations for the ToYA 2023 had been complicated by the effects of the pandemic on the flow of technology and vehicles at a time when travel and supply chains suffered significant disruption. As a result, the judging panel allowed some fluidity with the eligibility dates for the 2023 award – released after 31 December 2021 and before 31 March 2023.

Any contenders needed to be available in both Australia and New Zealand.

Australasia presents truck makers with challenges unlike those faced elsewhere in the world. Trucks from Europe, North America and Asia work in the harshest conditions – extreme heat, sub-zero temperatures and mountainous topography, at weights up to and over 200 tonnes and run at higher speeds than most of the world.

The main criterion for the nomination and the election of any truck as ‘Truck of the Year Australasia’ should be its contribution to the standards of safety and efficiency of the transport of goods by road in Australasia.

Any truck with a gross vehicle mass of 4.5 tonnes or above that fulfils the criterion is eligible. The truck must contain considerable technological improvements; a minor facelift, for example, does not make a truck eligible. The trucks nominated must be released by a date determined by the jury to allow time to assess the nominations, shall be produced in series and shall be ordered according to an official price list.