Foton ute prepares Australian re-launch
A new global brand looking to make its way Down Under might normally be headline news but many Aussies are now saying the opposite - that enough is enough.
A new car brand in Australia should be headline news, but as China’s Foton arrives, there’s temptation to cry “Enough!”
This surge in new players has been unprecedented. In recent years we’ve welcomed BYD, Chery, XPeng, Deepal, Leapmotor, JAC, Jaecoo, Geely, IM, Smart and Zeekr.
There’s probably more but it’s proving increasingly brain-hurting to keep up.
MORE: Ominous sight metres from Aus air base
Our playground’s soon to get busier still. In coming months we’ll open doors to GAC Aion, Skyworth, Denza and perhaps even Yangwang.
And if you fancy telling neighbours you’re bringing home a new Yangwang, best be thick of skin.
Like Cadillac, Foton’s a returning member to the Australian fold.
It first launched here in 2012 with the Cummins diesel-powered Tunland one-tonne ute. It was certainly cheap, but the drive wasn’t much cop, safety woeful, resale miserable and there were myriad hassles with reliability and importers.
Foton shuttered its Aussie doors in 2019, and we thought that was for good.
MORE: Car giant’s backflip over Aus’ money worries
But salvation arrives with the Chines brand’s all-new Tunland V7 and V9 dual cab utes.
These are larger than our usual one-tonners (like a HiLux or Ranger), and pose direct competition to GWM’s Cannon Alpha uts.
Initial signs are more positive than last decade’s effort. New Tunlands have decent safety, offer a reasonable drive experience, have seven-year warranties (it was three years in 2012) and boast the rugged good looks pick-up buyers crave.
Some suggest those good looks come from ripping off Ford and RAM front end designs … I’ll leave you to decide if that’s justified or not.
A clear positive is Inchcape Australasia being Foton’s importer, the automotive distributor responsible for bringing Peugeots into Australia since 2017, and Subarus since 1992.
“We’re bringing a truck and ute brand into our portfolio,” said Blair Read, managing director of Inchcape. With no commercial vehicle in Subaru’s line-up, adding Foton as a ute option makes strong commercial sense, especially if multi-franchise dealers take on the new brand.
“The ute has really become the heartbeat of the Australian market, representing over 20 per cent of all new vehicle sales and continuing to grow,” Read said.
Who wouldn’t want a slice of that pie?
Glen Cooper, General Manager of Foton Australia, believes the new Tunland has an important point of difference in being sized between a Ford Ranger and Ford F-150 US pick-up. Predictably, the term “Goldilocks” was offered up.
“We see an absolute opportunity there,” said Cooper. “There’s a view that this is a sort of untapped market. A little bit of space in that second row is a point of difference and appealing to people.”
MORE: Major update on Aussie Chinese EV stockpile
He also reminded the Tunland accommodates rear-facing child seats in the back – something notoriously hard to do securely in most dual-cab utes.
This, in turn, highlights how many Aussies buy utes as the family vehicle rather than an outright work truck.
A stumbling block is Foton only selling high CO2-emitting diesels. Like Isuzu, that means it’s in line for increasingly hefty fines under Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), as it has no “clean” vehicles like plug-ins and EVs to gain credits and offset fines.
Blair Read said electrified Fotons were “on the radar for the short to mid-term product portfolio.” This would likely be the Tunland G7 EV ute (although Read would not confirm it), offering 500km range, 3000kg towing and 1090kg payload.
But the jury’s firmly out on Aussie appetite for full electric utes. The LDV eT60 dual cab unsurprisingly found virtually no buyers at around $100,000 drive-away, and slashing that price in half was the only way to shift them before making a hasty retreat.
Finally, what about the hangover from Foton’s previous unsuccessful foray into the Australian marketplace?
“Our job’s to win the trust of those people (Foton doubters) and show them this is a whole new attempt at the market, and that we’ll look after customers in the market,” Read promised.
Foton’s website currently lists 22 dealers (none for you yet, Tassie), with the promise of more to come as the brand grows with more products.
Originally published as Foton ute prepares Australian re-launch
Brutal truth about Aus e-bikes exposed
