Foton Motor


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, 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 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.
In 2024, a joint partnership was established with Otokar of Turkey, including local production.
In December 2024, Cavan Auto, a new energy commercial vehicle brand jointly owned by Foton Motor, Bosch, SinoHytec, and BAIC Capital, was launched. Cavan products are sold as a sub-brand of Foton, with the first product being the Lefu van, unveiled alongside the Beacon, a concept heavy-duty truck. The Lefu is based on the Toano View i9 electric van.

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
  • Foton AUV New Directions
  • Foton AUV panoramic Unlimited
  • Foton AUV Pioneer Europe Brand name
  • Foton Green Earth

    Trucks

Foton heavy duty
  • Foton Auman Jones
  • Foton Auman Lion
  • Foton Auman Kunlun Mountains
  • Foton Auman Shenzhou
  • Foton Auman H4
  • Foton Auman EST
Foton light trucks
  • Foton Aumark
  • * Foton Aumark S/ Foton Aumark Flex
  • * Foton Aumark S1/ Foton Tornado
  • * Foton Aumark C
  • Foton Miler
  • Foton Ollin Beyond
  • Foton Ollin MRI
  • Foton Ollin V
Foton Forland micro and light trucks
  • Foton Forland
  • Foton Forland King Kong
  • Foton Forland Ruiwo

    Passenger vehicles

Gratour MPVs
  • Gratour im6
  • Gratour im8
  • Gratour ix5
  • Gratour ix7
Foton Sauvana SUV
Foton Tunland pickup
  • Foton Tunland E3
  • Foton Tunland E5
  • Foton Tunland S
Foton Tunland Yutu pickup
  • Foton Tunland Yutu 8
  • Foton Tunland Yutu 9
  • Foton General F9
  • Foton Grand General G7
  • Foton Grand General G9
Foton Mars pickup/ Foton Tunland V pickup
  • Foton Mars 7
  • Foton Mars 9
Foton Saga
Foton SUP

Light commercial vehicles

MPV
  • Foton MP-X Parker Mongolia
Foton View
Foton Toano business class van/ minibus
Foton Xiangling light truck series
Foton Midi
Foton View Express
Foton View Express Passenger
Foton View Ireland Act
Foton Zhilan
  • Foton Smart Smurf E5/ E7

    Foton Rowor (Original name:瑞沃) trucks

Light trucks

  • Foton Rowor Xiaojingang
  • Foton Rowor E3
  • Foton Rowor Dajingang 1
  • Foton Rowor Dajingang 3

    Heavy trucks

  • Foton Rowor ES3
  • Foton Rowor ES5
  • Foton Rowor ES7
  • Foton Rowor Q5
  • Foton Rowor Q9
  • Foton Rowor Dajingang ES3
  • Foton Rowor Dajingang ES5

    Sales

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