18 of the strangest Truck mascots in Hong Kong
Michelin Man, Cartoon Characters, Stuffed Toys
Discover the Real Hong Kong with Jamie
18 of the strangest Truck mascots in Hong Kong
Michelin Man, Cartoon Characters, Stuffed toys
I am a bit of a photographer whose main passion will always be cars and car licence plates, but very slowly starting in 2011 I started to get interested in trucks and when I get interested, well it becomes an obsession and I have now amassed 19,000 truck images all neatly categorised and it is probably the largest collection of truck images in Hong Kong.
As with my car photography I have a particular style and the planets align as I take truck shots in the same places as I take car shots, with a couple of exceptions, after meticulous research I happened upon 2 places where the truck traffic is just wall to wall, truck heaven I call it.
It took a while for me to realise that Hong Kong Truckers (well some of them anyway) are quite happy to display mascots on their trucks.
Naturally the Michelin Man is quite popular followed by weird Asian cartoon and super hero characters and then there are the stuffed toys which always look the worse for wear after being exposed to heat, humidity, rain and pollution.
I am a big fan of truckers, they are a very friendly bunch and like a little bit of attention, for the most part Hong Konger’s ignore trucks, they are a very large nuisance but for heavens sake Hong Kong would grind to a halt without these guys (you almost NEVER see female truckers) within a few hours we would have total chaos.
We should all salute Hong Kong Truckers
Here is my blurb about trucks :
Hong Kong Transport - Trucks
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 Mainland 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)
So here goes and sometimes you have to look very closely!
Pimp my truck, I just love it when guys really do a job on the truck, not just the exterior but the interior of the cabin as well - amazing!
You cannot fault guys for liking Transformers! basically the action figures are in the truck cabin but look at all those metal badges on the truck cabin exterior.
The king of the road, you do not mess with a 40ft container truck that is fully loaded… The Michelin Man sits rather proudly!
The teams of bamboo scaffolding guys are in a class all of their own, as well as using trucks custom made for their specific industry they just love giant stuffed toys.
Sometimes, you have to look closely, this mascot is on the side of the truck
When I say look closely, you really have to on this truck, the mascot is tiny and is located next to the licence plate
This is quite an old truck but is quite well looked after and I love the sunglasses on the Michelin Man
This is quite a new dump truck but one thing dump truck drivers are known for and that is the truck cabin is a like a dump site, it makes be break out in a cold sweat being somewhat neat, tidy and fastidious to the nth degree. This mascot has a passing likeness to Ted, star of a couple of movies with Mark Wahlberg
This is what happens when you are exposed to the elements for 10 years, the scaffolders certainly have a sense of humour and make of that mascot what you will.
Alien mascots and the guys like the attention!
No stuffed animals for these guys, they like their Japanese Super Hero action figures (as do I) very cool!
Why have one Michelin Man when you can have two…. Scania are quite a dominant brand in the container truck market.
Look closely!
A Michelin man on a dump truck is quite rare
Another mascot looking slightly the worse for wear
I can see a Spiderman action figure amongst an untidy pile of mascots and look at that truck cabin… what a mess
Two inflatable Alien mascots
and finally a couple of grungy stuffed toys on a dump truck, I am not 100% sure but it looks awfully like McDull a beloved pig cartoon character in Hong Kong, they need to shove it in the washing machine.
So there you go… mascots I would say are not common on Hong Kong trucks but it is always nice to see and I have always had a soft spot for the Michelin Man.
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