One of strongest branding messages on local highways displays the people, machines, and values of the big J. Swap operation in high quality graphics along the side of some of its familiar white and blue trucks and trailers.

Among the newest of these working billboards is this 2024 Fuso Shogun 6x4 tipper, working out of the Greerton depot and driven by Tauranga’s Steve Thomson.

This is the second time we’ve tested Fuso’s premium 510hp Shogun. The first test opportunity was more than three years ago – in the 6x4 tractor which was the first evaluation unit to arrive in New Zealand.

This is the first current generation Shogun to join the J. Swap fleet. The truck and also-new 4-axle Cambridge Welding Services tipper trailer are working on a 48-tonne permit, carting aggregates, sand, and roading materials between quarries and depots to various construction jobs, mainly in the Bay of Plenty.

It’s been three years since I last drove a 510hp Fuso Shogun, and that was the 6x4 tractor evaluation unit that had just arrived in New Zealand back then.

This time I’m excited to test this truck in a specification, and in a sector, that I really think it shines. This month we catch up with the J Swap team in Tauranga to see how they are getting on with their new Shogun tipper. 

It’s great to test a truck with such a good company. J Swap has become a big company, but it is still family owned and a pleasure to deal with when it comes to testing trucks.

We catch up with regular driver Steve Thomson at the Tauranga branch and head out for the day. Steve takes the truck and its four-axle CWS trailer empty over the Kaimais to get a load of metal from the J Swap owned and operated Taotaoroa quarry. It’s a busy site, but it all seems well oiled, and we are in and out in no time.