Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd., known as Foton Motor or Foton, is a Chinese company that designs and manufactures trucks, buses and sport utility vehicles. It is headquartered in Changping, Beijing, and is a subsidiary of the BAIC Group.

History

Founded on August 28, 1996, Foton manufactures light and heavy-duty trucks, agricultural tractors, and various other machinery. Foton International Trade Co., Ltd, Beijing, is Foton Motor Group's international sales subsidiary. In addition to the heavier trucks, Foton also builds a car inspired by the Toyota HiAce H100, called the "Foton View" or "Foton Alpha". In August 2002, the company started producing Foton Auman truck. In March 2006 Foton and Cummins Inc. announced the creation of a 50:50 joint venture company, Beijing Foton Cummins Engine Company (BFCEC), to produce light-duty diesel engines, of 2.8 and 3.8 liter displacement. In October 2009 Foton agreed to form a joint venture to develop and produce vehicle batteries with Pulead Technology Industry Co. In July 2010 Foton announced the establishment of a European headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Foton established a sales company in India in April 2011. In February 2012, Beiqi Foton Motors Co., Ltd. and Daimler AG established a 50-50 joint venture, Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd., at an investment of RMB6.35 billion. The joint venture would take over Foton's existing Auman medium- and heavy-duty truck business, including production sites, sales and service network. Foton will build an assembly plant in Colombia, in order to participate in the growing Latin American market for light commercial vehicles. The company also plans to build a plant in Western Maharashtra, India. Foton has announced a bus factory in Brazil in the state of Bahia, as part of their globalization plan. Foton has held a press conference in 2015, previewing the Sauvana while announcing news to bring the brand to the United States. In September 2017 Foton and Piaggio agreed to form a joint venture to develop and produce light commercial vehicle. Based on Foton chassis the new vehicle was sold by Piaggio Commercial Vehicle division in Europe and in all market around the world but not in China. The vehicle was intended as a successor of the Piaggio Porter and production was planned to starts in the mid 2019 in Pontedera (Italy) with all components produced by Foton in China. In August 2018, Foton Motor announced they would set up a plant in Bangladesh by next year to assemble commercial vehicles in a joint venture with ACI Motors. On 25 April 2019 Foton and CP has announced a truck factory in Thailand name CP FOTON SALES CO., LTD. Now have the electric truck name Auman EST, AUMARK and AUV.

Operations

Foton is headquartered in Changping District, Beijing. Foton's business units are seen in cities and provinces such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Liaoning, and Guangdong. Its R&D branches are distributed in India, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and the Philippines. It has assets exceeding 50 billion Yuan and 300,000 employees. Foton, whose brand value exceeds 61.932 billion Yuan in 2005, ranked No.1 in auto industry and No. 11 in the “Top 500 Most Valuable Brands”. Foton business marquee also consists of a branch in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Och motors LLC, is one of the biggest conglomerate in Mongolia, is the official distributor of Foton in Mongolian market.

North Korea

Foton manufactures vehicles in Hanghang district, Pyongyang in the Samhung Joint Venture Company factory, Foton Vehicles in North Korea are sold under the Chonji Marque.

Products

Buses

Foton AUV (福田欧辉)

Trucks

Foton Auman Foton Aumark (欧马可) Foton Forland (时代汽车) Foton Ollin (奥铃) Foton Tornado (龙卷风)

Passenger vehicles

Gratour MPVs (北京伽途) Foton Sauvana SUV (萨瓦纳) (since 2014; also known as Foton Toplander) Foton Tunland (拓陆者) pickup Foton Tunland Yutu (拓陆者 驭途) pickup Foton Mars (火星) pickup/ Foton Tunland V pickup Foton Saga (since 2004 under license of DangDong -terrain vehicle; Original name:福田传奇)(Discontinued) Foton SUP (since 2004 pickup based on the Saga; Original name:萨普)

Light commercial vehicles

Foton MP-X (MP-X蒙派克) MPV Foton View (福田风景) Foton Toano (since 2015) business class van/ minibus Foton Xiangling (Original name:祥菱) light truck series (Discontinued) Foton Midi (Discontinued) Foton View Express (produced from 2001 to 2012 resembling the Toyota HiAce, Original name:风景快运) Foton View Express Passenger (produced from 2000 to 2006 resembling the Toyota HiAce, Original name:风景快客) Foton View Ireland Act (produced from 1999 to 2005 resembling the Toyota HiAce, Original name:风景爱尔法) Foton Zhilan (Smart Smurf)

Foton Rowor (Original name:瑞沃) trucks

Light trucks

Heavy trucks

Sales

Foton Motor sold a total of 640,400 vehicles in 2011.