Sales of the 510hp 6x4 have taken off, strengthening the case for adding an 8x4 510 model.

group – using the 10.7 litre Detroit DD11 engine from Daimler’s global engine platform, for example.

Compared to the HD Euro’s 12-litre OM457 engine, the DD11/ FUSO OM470 was lighter, more fuel-efficient and had a Jacobs engine brake.

Similarly, the M-B G330 or G230 12-speed AMT, with Shiftpilot software, was two generations ahead of the HD Euro’s gearbox – and worked seamlessly with the DD11 to deliver up to 20% better fuel economy….and faster shifting.

While Fuso NZ execs said at the Euro 6 Shogun’s launch that the problems with the outgoing HD Euro AMT’S shifting and its problematic interface with the previous engine had eventually been solved (by a change in the ECU and the AMT mapping software), the new model’s driveline was clearly a very big improvement.

FUSO loyalist Noble took them at their word – and they didn’t let him down: The 460 and the 510 Euro 6 Shogun he’s bought since are a “significant” improvement on the HD Euros.

In fact, he quickly adds, they’ve been a “massive” step up. Our test truck’s performance has been “impeccable” during the 130,000 kilometres so far clocked up. And, as a counterpoint to the troublesome HD Euros, “it’s a cheap truck to own.”

Noble had no higher-horsepower choice when it came to the 8x4’s engine rating: So far the 510 engine is available only in a 6x4 – although when I ask Fuso NZ national sales manager Cameron Childs if we’re going to get a 510 twin-steer, he says: “Yes we are…we’ll get it eventually…” When that might be is left unsaid.