The Amazing Truck Culture in Hong Kong
The Ultimate Guide
Me Jamie, English and 52 years living in Hong Kong Me Jamie, English and 52 years living in Hong Kong and I know the know the place - I personally completed 2,324 Private Tours (6,000+ guests) from 2011 - 2020 and was considered one of the finest Private Tour Guides in Asia.
A blog post with a difference - Please do visit Hong Kong in 2024 | Travel, Tourism, Tours, Tips, Daily Life and my personal thoughts on Hong Kong - Pearl of the Orient
Discover the Real Hong Kong with Jamie
The Real Hong Kong
Hong Kong - a city of trucks
Now that is what I call a tow truck and it is one of those rare, old classic trucks I used to admire, you hardly see them these days.
Trucks in Hong Kong - The Ultimate Guide
I am a fairly decent photographer but in no shape or form am I a professional so to speak, I like to take photographs and have a great camera and I have now amassed over 164,000 images of Hong Kong and 56 + million views, Hong Kong is my passion and I am aiming for a revised figure of around 300,000 images within the next 5 years (ish)
My primary interest has always been cars and car licence plates and 5 years ago I think I had less than 500 truck images and then something clicked (sorry!) and I turned my interest to trucks and wow, what a fascinating truck culture we have and more importantly hardly anyone in Hong Kong was taking and posting images of trucks.
Below are images of the
20 main Truck brands in Hong Kong
click on the image to enlarge
I have now amassed over 18,000 images of trucks in Hong Kong and I spend a lot of time categorising them and it would be true to say that I am now somewhat of an expert on the truck scene in Hong Kong and I was very surprised to see that there is quite a lot of interest from around the world in Hong Kong Trucks, I should also emphasize that I put a lot of research into finding the best spots to photograph trucks, I like to get up close and personal and in a few places I can literally be 12 inches away from a 38 tonne truck | load! what a thrill.
I love the fact that the truck drivers and their assistants are a really friendly bunch, they are salt of the earth… I get a lot of smiles, waves and horn tooting - I have a lot of respect for them, Hong Kong would grind to a halt without them.
In the coming months I will be doing more detailed posts of trucks in Hong Kong, from my initial analysis I would say that probably half of all trucks in Hong Kong are still ISUZU which came as a surprise and Japanese and European brands are dominant, there are not many Mainland Chinese trucks here.
Anyway click on the link above and have a look around my master album of truck images.
Trucks in Hong Kong | A very rare (in Hong Kong) 6 axle rigid body flatbed with a monster load
Hong Kong Transport - Trucks
Trucks in Hong Kong, some relevant information
The number of Trucks, Vans* and Special Purpose Vehicles (Light, Medium & Heavy) registered + licenced in Hong Kong seems to fluctuate between 120,000 - 125,000 vehicles and presumably new trucks registered are offset by old trucks being retired or sold over the border in China.
*Vans are classified as Light Goods Vehicles and are not shown in this album
In Hong Kong Trucks are classified as GOODS VEHICLES By the Transport Department - see below
☛Light Goods Vehicles - Goods vehicles of permitted gross vehicle weight not exceeding 5.5 tonnes.
☛Medium Goods Vehicles - Goods vehicles of permitted gross vehicle weight exceeding 5.5 tonnes but not exceeding 24 tonnes.
☛Heavy Goods Vehicles - Goods vehicles of permitted gross vehicle weight exceeding 24 tonnes but not exceeding 38 tonnes.
The 3 major types I tend to see in urban areas are trucks carrying construction materials or waste (dump trucks), concrete mixers and medium size delivery trucks... outside of the urban areas the number of 40ft container trucks on the roads is really quite staggering, my apartment block overlooks the busiest highway in Hong Kong which links up to the China border and I am convinced that container trucks outnumber cars and buses by a huge factor.
Most truck brands are heavy industry divisions of large multinational companies and have corresponding car divisions as well - one of the big players is HINO which is the truck division of Toyota and Toyota cars sell in huge numbers here whereas Isuzu and Fuso (Mitsubishi) sell a lot more trucks than cars here. UD is a peculiar story - it is now an Isuzu subsidiary (as of 2021) after being a division of Volvo and before that Nissan and Volvo and Isuzu have a joint venture strategic alliance now and they also have a stake in Dong Feng the Chinese Truck Manufacturer (!) and they have a massive worldwide network of plants and distributors but despite that UD is still a minor player in Hong Kong, that will change
Hong Kong favours Japanese and European brands, it is actually quite rare to see a Chinese branded truck in Hong Kong, the one brand that stands out is Dong Feng which also makes the Military trucks for the Chinese Army and are often sighted on the roads here. My personal observation is that China made brands seem to show major signs of wear and tear with lots of rust spots even on trucks just a year old so perhaps reliability is also an issue, given that UD (Volvo) has a stake in Dong Feng, I am quite sure quality issues will be resolved quickly.
The following brands of Trucks can be seen on the streets of Hong Kong and include |
Beiben ✚ Bell ✚ CAMC ✚ CNHTC ✚ DAF ✚ Dennis ✚ Dong Feng ✚ FAW ✚ Fuso ✚ Foton ✚ Ford ✚ Hino ✚ Howo ✚ Hyundai ✚ Isuzu ✚ Iveco ✚ JAC ✚ Kato ✚ KIA ✚ Liebherr ✚ MAN ✚ Mercedes Benz ✚ Mitsubishi ✚ Nissan ✚ Renault ✚ Scania ✚ Shacman ✚ Sinotruk ✚ Suzuki ✚ Toyota ✚ UD ✚ Volvo ✚ Zoomlion
☛* Mercedes Benz supplies specialised trucks for Hong Kong Police Force use
☛* DAF supplies specialised trucks for The Correctional Services Department | Prisoner Transport
☛* Dennis did supply specialised trucks for The Fire Services Department but they are being phased out in favour of Scania, Man and Mercedes Benz vehicles
☛* Kato and Liebherr Crane Trucks can be seen all over Hong Kong, these are monsters and traffic stoppers!
☛* Mitsubishi in Hong Kong used to sell Mitsubishi brand trucks and now all trucks seem to be sold through main truck division FUSO
☛* Suzuki in Hong Kong offer small vans for the Fire Services Department which they prefer to call Fire Trucks! and are deployed in places where vehicular traffic is prohibited
☛* Toyota in Hong Kong used to sell Toyota brand trucks and now all trucks seem to be sold through their main truck division HINO with just a couple of exceptions
Hong Kong is a brand conscious place even for trucks (!) hence the popularity of the European brands, Scania and Man are very popular and even the older trucks look the business and they are utterly reliable.
Isuzu is the market leader in terms of sale volume for all types of trucks.
(Source - The Transport Department, Hong Kong Government)
Trucks in Hong Kong
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Jamie, your friend in Hong Kong
52 years living in Hong Kong, our family arrived on January 2nd 1972
I have lived here for 25 years under British Rule, 27 years under Chinese Rule
I have 45 years of Business Consultancy experience in Hong Kong
My wife is a local & has lived her entire life in Hong Kong, her first language is Cantonese
We have 3 Adult sons all born and educated in Hong Kong, 2 still live in Hong Kong
I pioneered the Private Tour Industry in Hong Kong in 2010
2,324 completed award winning Private Tours of Hong Kong from 2011 - 2020
……and yes, I am a bit of an expert on the Hong Kong car culture!
