Foton News

One of the biggest truck players in China means business this time and is backed by import giant Ateco Automotive, the company that brings Great Wall utes to Australia. Foton will now offer a full line of trucks, with two different engine options, both Cummins. The Foton Aumark was first introduced to Australia in 2010 and was brought in by TransPacific, the same company that imports Western Star, MAN and Dennis Eagle trucks. Sales were slow and when Foton took its time developing a Euro 5 model, TransPacific walked away. Ateco says it will throw a lot more marketing strength behind Foton, which launched this week at the Brisbane Truck Show. There will be three trucks offered right from the start, the 4500kg entry-level truck that can be driven on a car license, a 6500kg model and an 8500kg model. Short, medium and long wheelbases will be available and customers can choose from a narrow cab or wide cab. Ateco is not ready to finalise payload numbers, but says these trucks are significantly lighter which will allow them to carry more. “These trucks have gone on a bit of a diet so there are improvements in payload compared to the previous Aumark and current JAC trucks,” says Foton general manager Andrei Zaitzev. He says much of the weight reduction can be attributed to different types of steels used. Foton will offer two Cummins engines for the Aumark, both six-cylinders and both made in China at a Cummins-Foton plant. The entry-level unit is a 2.8-litre with 110kW and 360Nm, while the 3.8-litre engine generates 115kW and 500Nm. Both use Selective Catalytic Reduction, which utlises AdBlue exhaust treatment fluid. Owners will not need to have the engine serviced by Cummins, as is the case with big trucks, thanks to a deal with Ateco. 'It was crucial that Cummins came on board,” Zaitzev says. “We needed the dealers to be able to service the whole truck so that customers know they can just take the truck to one place.” Ateco decided to steer clear of Chinese in-house transmissions, opting for two ZF manual gearboxes including one that is imported from Europe. There is no fully automatic or automated manual option for now, but Ateco is keen to offer a self-shifter given the increasing demand for them. Ateco was not ready to detail how much the Fotons will cost at the time of writing, but cautions potential customers that they shouldn't expect rock bottom prices. “They're not going to be cheap, but they will represent good value for money,” is how Zaitzev puts it. With reliability concerns likely to be in the minds of potential customers, Ateco plans to offer a 24 hour roadside assistance package with each truck. The trucks will all be fitted with cruise control, airconditioning and power steering. There are no airbags, for now, but anti-skid brakes are standard and Ateco says the cabs all adhere to the ECE 29 cab safety standard. Ateco is yet to finalise the new Foton dealer list, describing it as a work in progress, but says it will represent proper national coverage, including Western Australia.  

You might have seen the TV ad for a budget brand ute, the one in which the dopey looking bloke goes “d'oh” because he bought a far more expensive brand.Sure, he's down a few thousand bucks but he, his loved ones and possibly even his employer won't be so quick to self-admonishment should he survive a big prang.The chances of this happy outcome remains lower in Chinese-made working vehicles than in any from the Japanese brands, Ford, Holden or Volkswagen. Much lower in most instances.In the past month, the Australian New Car Assessment Program -- the line-filling moniker for the local agency that crashes cars into walls and rates how they hold up -- crunched the body of and the numbers on the latest such conveyance from Cathay.Foton's Tunland 4WD light-commercial dual-cab was awarded three stars from five. That's almost but not quite as poor as it gets these days, but a possibly generous assessment given the absence of electronic equipment mandatory for the full five stars.Nor is the Tunland especially cheap at $34,500. Hard to grasp why that sum shouldn't include stability control, a fixture standard elsewhere and arguably even more important for vehicles with a high centre of gravity.“There really is no excuse for a new vehicle coming into the market today to be without stability control, which is now mandatory for passenger cars,” ANCAP's Lauchlan McIntosh says.ANCAP is irksomely apt to claim credit for pushing major safety advances that originate with car makers and are compelled by market forces. Yet it has also admitted to being two years behind Euro NCAP in its methodology.There’s no quibbling on this point, however, certainly not when two such old stagers as Toyota's LandCruiser and Mitsubishi's Pajero have both been upgraded to five stars after equipment improvements.The Chinese brands fare not so well. The Chery J1 gets three stars, and the Chery J11 gets two stars. The Great Wall V240 gets two stars and X240 gets four stars. Carsguide does not recommend a vehicle of any sort that has less than four stars. Indeed, we’ve directed our team to not so much as test them. We say you shouldn’t so why should we. Some of us have families. None of us are suicidal. 

The newest Chinese badge to land here has failed to get full marks in Australian New Car Assessment Program crash tests. ANCAP put the Foton Tunland 4WD light-commercial dual-cab ute through its safety tests and ranked it as a three-star car - an outcome the company expected, given the absence of electronic equipment now deemed mandatory for a full five-star rank. ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh says the Tunland, priced from $34,500, had relatively poor crash test performance and lacked stability control. "Stability control is a life-saver -- particularly in vehicles with a higher centre of gravity. There really is no excuse for a new vehicle coming into the market today to be without stability control, which is now mandatory for passenger cars,'' McIntosh says.  Two veterans of the SUV segment scored full marks in the latest round of tests -- the Toyota LandCruiser and veteran Mitsubishi Pajero --were both upgraded to five stars after getting equipment and trim upgrades. A change in standard equipment across the LandCruiser 200 Series range added dual front knee airbags -- a safety feature previously only available on the top-spec models.  Mitsubishi's Pajero models built from April this year will rank as five-star SUVs after trim and equipment upgrades - energy-absorbing material has been applied to the steering column underside and a passenger seatbelt alert has been added. "These are very popular choices for fleets and families alike and we now know they'll be better protected in these upgraded models,'' Mr McIntosh says. FAA Automotive Australia director and spokesperson for Foton light commercial and passenger vehicles in Australia, Daniel Phelan, predicted the ANCAP results last month, saying he expected the Tunland to rank as a three-star car because of the standard equipment on offer.  

Just launching in Australia, Foton is swerving away from the cheap-and-cheerful approach taken by Chery and Great Wall as it pitches its Tunland dual-cab ute into action with a $28,000 starting sticker. Tunland says the Toyota HiLux is its target in Australia and touts a mechanical package that is built around a Cummins 2.8-litre turbodiesel engine, a Getrag gearbox and Bosch electronics. "I want to get one thing straight. They are Chinese assembled, but the componentry is all European or American. That's a huge difference," the sales and marketing chief of Foton Australia, Rod James, tells Carsguide. "This is a ute that Foton designed especially for first-world markets. We're the first to get it, with South Africa. We believe in the vehicle." Foton is being imported by a start-up company that was established to handle the local agency, although it has some experienced staff from other brands. It is aiming to sell 1700-2000 vehicles in 2013 and intends to expand its range with a single-cab ute and as 12-seater van called the View. James admits there are some shortcomings in the Tunland, which only has two airbags and no ESP, but is keen to talk about the mechanical components that - he says - justify the meaty starting price. "The things I see as huge plusses are the Cummins motor, which is $11,000 before fitting. The gearbox is $3500 as well. You start adding it up," he says. "On the critical side, there are cosmetic issues that they are working hard on. There is stuff they could have put in standard that they don't have as yet. "In 12 months it will be a different vehicle altogether. It's very satisfactory at this point, and good value, and it will get better." Foton is based at Yatala in Queensland and has 12 dealers, as well as a three-year/100,000 kilometre warranty. The 4x2 Tunland starts at $28,000 and the 4x4 model from $34,500, which James says is a "sweet spot" between brand-name Japanese utes and Great Wall from China. But Great Wall utes still start from $17,990 on the road in Australia and the most direct competitor for the Tunland, a dual-cab diesel from Great Wall, is still only $24,990 driveaway.  

Apparently several Tunlands have arrived to fly the flag for the Chinese-built dual cab utes, ahead of a projected Australian launch later this year. The demo Tunlands are the four-wheel drive, luxury dual cab, manual transmission versions. Anyone chasing a sneak peek and drive of the forthcoming FotonTunland utes should drop into Motorworld Queensland up in Brisbane. Or, if headed way west, at Perth Motorsport in Perth. Foton dealerships in Victoria, Adelaide and on the Sunshine Coast also are expected to soon have Tunlands available for test drives. While the two and four-wheel drive utes were expected in local showrooms earlier this year, a final-quarter launch now has been confirmed by FAA Automotive sales director Rod James on the Gold Coast.  "Production of the first shipment of production-line Tunlands is now under way and all going to plan, the vehicles will arrive on Australian soil in November," Mr James said.  

And it bears a striking resemblance to a Mercedes-Benz Actros. But before you conclude that this is another case of a Chinese company blatantly ripping off a Western design, let me fill you in on the background.  It actually is an Actros, one that is made by a new joint venture between Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler and Chinese giant Foton. The German brand has actually been negotiating with Foton for years, but has only just gained approval from the Chinese government. Foreign companies are not allowed to set up and produce cars by themselves in the emerging market. Government regulations mean that if they want to build vehicles in China, they must set up a local joint venture operation with a local firm, which means splitting costs and profits. However, the booming Chinese market is just to important to ignore, encouraging Daimler to hook up with a major Chinese player.  Daimler estimates that China accounted for 40 per cent of global sales of medium and heavy-duty trucks last year. Foton, which has only been building trucks since 1998, sold more than 100,000 medium and heavy-duty trucks last year, making it the number one truck brand in the country.  The new joint-venture, called Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive (BFDA), will open a seconds plant in Beijings Huairou district in order to boost annual production to 160,000 trucks.  Daimler says teaming up with Foton will give it a strong foothold in China. Our 50 percent stake in Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive will enable us to play a major role in the Chinese truck market and give us access to the attractive volume segment, says Daimler trucks chief, Andreas Renschler.

And it is now confident of becoming a major global player. The Beijing-based manufacturer fired up in August 1996, building in the main trucks and buses. Today it is the country's top commercial vehicle brand, has sold more than five million vehicles and reportedly accounts for 50 per cent of Beijing city's income. Now Foton is moving to be "the leading brand in world auto market", making inroads into new markets and expanding its vehicle line-up from the current heavy and medium duty trucks, buses and vans down to a compact car by 2015. It wants to be a top ten, world class automotive concern by 2020. The master plan is 5+3+1, first expanding in developing areas such as Russia, India, Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia. The next three target markets are North America, Europe and Japan. And the one is for the home country: "Foton will guarantee its leadership in the Chinese market by the deep plough of its Chinese market." In all this Australia could serve as a small, but important player. Here, as the Japanese realised decades back, is a test market for western customers and tastes. Medium-duty Foton trucks arrived here three years ago and, all going to plan, the first light commercial Fotons, the Tunland utes, will be here in May. Inside 12 months that range should include dual, single and extra cabs, diesel and petrol engines, two and four-wheel drives. A commuter/cargo van is on its way, as is an SUV wagon based on the Tunland. And by 2015 there should be a compact car from Foton. It is a confident company, one that already has a joint venture engine company with Cummins to produce 2.8 litre and 3.8 litre diesel engines for trucks, buses, vans, utes and SUVs. Last weekend it signed, after nine years of negotiations, a joint venture deal with Daimler - Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive. This alliance will focus on the medium and heavy duty truck market and is another milestone in Foton's drive toward becoming a major manufacturer.  The Tunland utes, and the Australian market, will help map out the road ahead.

...has secured the rights to distribute the Foton range of 4x2 and 4x4 utility vehicles with plans for a sales kick-off early 2012. Australian Design Rule compliance and testing is currently under way and is due to be finalised in the next two months. The Foton utes will be powered by a Cummins ISF 2.8 litre Euro 5 common rail turbo diesel or a Foton manufactured 2.4-litre petrol engine coupled to a Getrag five-speed manual or ZF six-speed automatic. The Foton ute has been designed and targeted for both North American and "Western" markets rather than for domestic Chinese sales and has been benchmarked against the best Japanese rival models. As well as Foton ute, WMC Group handles Higer buses and JAC trucks in Australia. Foton will be well specified and priced at a level that will be between 15 and 20 per cent less than comparable models from Japanese manufacturers. Australia has the third highest sales of utes in the world and Foton will be using it as a launch pad ahead of a planned move into North America and Europe over the next two years. Foton will build the ute in an entirely new state of the art green fields plant near Beijing and it will be the first vehicle to be manufactured in the factory. It is fitted with ABS+EBD along with dual front airbags. The latest Euro 5 spec ISF 2.8-litre common rail turbo diesel engine is the newest engine in the Cummins range and delivers up to 120kW of power and 380 Nm of torque soon after. The transmission features an electronic transfer case for selection of four wheel drive on the move, while it also boasts the latest design heavy duty Dana axles with limited slip differential. WMC is planning a range of six model variants in 4x4 dual cab diesel, a 4x2 dual cab diesel, and a 4x2 dual cab petrol as well as a 4x2 extra cab diesel and 4x2 single cab models with either diesel or petrol power. A strong dealer network has already being assembled to handle sales of the Foton ute range.