14 units deployed in October to expand hands-on access

10 units at dealerships, 3 on regional circuit

Tata Daewoo Mobility takes its urban medium-duty truck Hissen on a nationwide roadshow, visiting dealerships, logistics centers, freight companies and highway rest stops to bring the vehicle closer to customers. [Tata Daewoo Mobility]
Tata Daewoo Mobility takes its urban medium-duty truck Hissen on a nationwide roadshow, visiting dealerships, logistics centers, freight companies and highway rest stops to bring the vehicle closer to customers. [Tata Daewoo Mobility]

Tata Daewoo Mobility announced Tuesday it will launch a nationwide roadshow for its urban medium-duty truck Hissen, taking the vehicle directly to dealerships, logistics centers, freight companies and highway rest stops across the country.

The campaign is designed to give more customers a chance to see the Hissen up close since it went on sale following its June launch. Rather than waiting for customers to visit a showroom, the company is bringing the truck to the places where they actually work and drive.

Tata Daewoo Mobility will deploy 14 Hissen units throughout October. Ten will be stationed at major dealerships nationwide, while three will travel a regional circuit covering the greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province, the Chungcheong provinces, the Yeongnam region and the Honam region. The company's direct-sales division, which handles business-to-business accounts, will operate one additional unit on a separate circuit targeting major special-purpose vehicle manufacturers.

The touring vehicles will visit 45 customer touchpoints across the greater Seoul area, Gangwon Province, the Chungcheong provinces, North Jeolla Province, Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province, Gwangju and Mokpo. Stops will include major highway rest stops in Munmak, Hoengseong and Gangneung, as well as logistics centers, freight companies, waste-collection firms and special-purpose vehicle builders — locations that reflect the real operating environments of commercial vehicle customers.

The Hissen is an urban medium-duty truck developed to handle a wide range of applications, including city deliveries, general freight and special-purpose configurations. The company said the truck combines a compact body comparable in size to a light-medium vehicle with the payload capacity of a full medium-duty truck, giving it the maneuverability and practicality to navigate narrow urban streets.

Compared with conventional medium-duty trucks, the cab is up to 115 millimeters narrower and up to 325 mm lower. A newly developed 220 mm frame delivers both rigidity and weight reduction. The axle design supports a maximum permissible load of up to 15 tons, and multiple wheelbase configurations allow the platform to underpin cargo trucks, environmental vehicles, dump trucks and other special-purpose variants.

The Hissen is also positioned to compete on total cost of ownership, a key consideration for commercial vehicle buyers. According to Tata Daewoo Mobility, the truck is priced roughly 15 to 20 percent below comparable medium-duty models. Maintenance costs are kept down through an SCR-only aftertreatment system, a 100,000-kilometer fuel-filter replacement interval and a hydraulic lash adjuster for automatic valve clearance.

Ahead of the roadshow, Tata Daewoo Mobility has been displaying the Hissen at four company-owned service centers — in Gyeonggi Province, the Gyeongin area, Busan and the Chungcheong-Honam region — since September. The four-month program lets existing customers coming in for maintenance and prospective buyers inspect the truck and consult with staff on site.

The company plans to expand its exhibition footprint in stages — from company-owned service centers to dealerships and then directly to customer worksites — to strengthen the ownership experience in the early sales period and convert interest into purchases.

"Commercial vehicle customers often find it hard to take time out of their workday to visit a showroom, so this roadshow carries real significance in that Hissen goes directly to where customers operate," a Tata Daewoo Mobility official said. "Hissen is a strategic model we expect to create new demand in the medium-duty truck segment, and we will continue meeting customers across the country to actively showcase what it has to offer."

Meanwhile, Tata Daewoo Mobility is also setting its sights on the Vietnamese market, leading with a special fire truck built on its large-truck platform Maxen. The company plans to begin with the supply of a Maxen-based remote-controlled demolition and water-cannon vehicle, then pursue broader exports of special fire apparatus and the development of local service infrastructure as it moves to capture Vietnam's public-safety market.


eyre@heraldcorp.com