GITI Tyres Big Test: Freedom Highway

Very few New Zealand main routes demand as much from a truck and a driver as State Highway 2 between Napier and Gisborne.

The 215km run includes narrow gorges and tight corners, ever-changing gradients, and a wide variety of surface quality – all of which were taken into consideration by Freedom Transport’s Samreet (Sam) Virdi when he needed a new truck for a double-shifted Palmerston North to Gisborne grocery run.

Sam wanted his drivers – and himself for the occasions when he’s behind the...

GITI Tyres Big Test; Southern Star

The brightest three-pointed star in the Clutha Valley Transport (CVT) fleet makes South Otago its home, but it gets the chance to shine across a big chunk of the Mainland.

The 8x4 Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3258L/52 configured as a 9-axle livestock unit went on the road in August 2024. When we caught up with the truck during the last days of the unusually mild autumn, it had already been hard at work clocking up 65,000km in about nine months.

The detail of the model designation...

GITI Tyres Big Test: Fresh Produce

Fresh produce is the Big Test theme this month – and it’s of equal relevance to the cargo and the new truck doing the work.

FAW is New Zealand’s newest heavy-duty truck brand. The acronym is short for First Automotive Works – which explains the prominent number one on the company logo framed by the wings of a hawk.

And like the majority of new brands appearing in the automotive industry over recent years, the manufacturing source is The People’s Republic of China.