The high horsepower truck brands have the biggest profile at the heavy-duty end of the New Zealand market. But the four Japanese marques – at the most with a touch over 500hp on their menu – still secure a significant share of the sales.

Japanese brand reputation for reliability, accessible service networks, and value-for-money definitely helps.

The registration stats revealed that a challenged Kiwi truck market shifted a little in the direction of Japan last year with 33.5% of trucks sold in the 23t-plus GVM segment during 2025 being from the four Japanese brands. That’s up from a 29.4% Japanese brand market share of the segment in 2024.

It’s actually a significant number because the quartet of Japanese brands leave the upper-five, six, and seven hundred horsepower segments entirely to the Euro and North American nameplates.

When I finished my drive of the new K&L Distributors Isuzu 530 Giga I was pleasantly surprised at how much I had enjoyed it.

I haven’t had many issues with Isuzus in the past, but this truck, with the body setup and the work it is doing, seemed to work together better than I had expected.

It took me a while to understand why it all went so well, but I came to a conclusion I’ll share at the end of my test.

I start my drive in Leamington on the outskirts of Cambridge and head towards Te Awamutu. The climb into the cab is great, with well-spaced steps and grab handles in the right places.