Story & photos by Ronald Rey M. de los Reyes
UNBEKNOWN to many, Foton is a Chinese company that particularly specializes in manufacturing trucks, buses, sport-utility vehicles, and light and heavy machineries. Founded in 1996, Beiqi Foton Motor Co. Ltd. is, in fact, the largest commercial vehicle manufacturer in China and the second-largest in Asia.
The truckmaker is partnered with Daimler AG for a joint commercial venture known as Beijing Foton Daimler Automobile Co. Ltd., which also sells Auman products.
Here in the country, Foton Philippines, under its official distributor United Asia Automotive Group Inc. (UAAGI), established its foothold back in 2007. They could hardly sell 100 units during their first two years with just a single pickup and a light-duty truck. Today they have a total of 64 variants and 24 models, and they are one of the fastest-selling vehicles in the Philippines with just nine years in existence.
“Foton sold more than 4,000 units last year,” said UAAGI President Rommel Sytin during one of his interviews at the inauguration of their P1.2-billion assembly plant in Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. The 11-hectare facility is set to produce 12,000 units annually. This is in pace together with their projected entire product lineup sales increase this year of 5,500 units.
“Having been in the automotive industry for quite a while already, this assembly plant is truly the ultimate goal that my brothers and I had,” Sytin shared.
“Along with the continued expansion of our dealership and service network, our production facility signifies Foton’s intent to be in the Philippines for the long haul,” he added.
The Chinese automaker is poised to deliver even higher target sales through their growing number of dealerships all over the country. In fact, this year alone, their network extends to 24 as new dealerships opened in Quezon Avenue; Pasong Tamo; Marilao; Santa Rosa, Laguna; Batangas City and Camarines Sur. Within the next couple of years the company expects to reach a total of at least 35 dealerships nationwide.
Staying true to its nature as a reliable key commercial-vehicle player, its light-duty trucks account for about 45 percent to 50 percent of Foton Philippines’s sales, while only 30 percent to 35 percent of total sales come from the passenger-vehicle lineup.
Foton’s 15-percent to 20-percent sales, meanwhile, are comprised of its heavy-duty trucks and machineries, including loaders and rollers.
For one, the known steadfast truckmaker continues to rise as it becomes the top choice of corporations in the local mining industry.
Early this year one of the country’s new mining players, 3 Point Shot Inc., bought 10 Foton ETX 340 6×4 dump trucks to serve as loaders in their current operations in Hinatuan, Surigao del Norte. Used to hustle laterite at Tagana-an Nickel Project operated by Hinatuan Mining Corp., the Foton ETX430 6×4 dump trucks didn’t disappoint and they proved to be masters of the heavy-duty terrain.
With its dimension (LxWxH) of 8,480mm 2,495mm3,400mm and 5,600mm2,300mm1,200mm inner cargo body with a payload of 20,125 kg and 15/19 m3 dump capacity, it’s able to move bulk earth materials from point A to B.
Performance-wise, the ETX’s six-cylinder, water-cooling, four-stroke, turbocharging, intercooling diesel engine mated to eight forward, one climb, reverse manual spews out 1,350 Nm of torque at 1,400 to 1,500 rpm, sufficient enough to carry hefty cargoes anywhere.
The longitudinal leaf spring with dual-acting telescopic shock absorbers and anti-roll bar front suspension and the longitudinal leaf spring, balance suspension and anti-roll bar at the rear take care of a smooth and comfortable ride, while the whole hydraulic power-boosting steering gear is in charge of easy maneuvering.
In terms of safety, the dual circuit pneumatic service brake, energy-accumulating spring air cut-off parking brake and engine exhaust auxiliary brake make sure the welfare of the driver, passenger and even freight is never compromised.
Its other features, meanwhile, include a tiltable cabin, an adjustable steering column, suspension seat and air-conditioning.
Meanwhile, the pail would not be complete without the shovel. Here, popular among the heavy machineries is the FL956F wheel loader—capable of working in the harshest mining and process environments on a round-the-clock basis.
According to the Mandarin heavy loaders, the FL956F represents one of the most affordable, purpose-built production machine for mining and industrial applications in the market today.
The heart of the company’s flagship loader is the Wechai Steyr engine, a practical and super-efficient powertrain that produces 162 kW at 2,000 rpm and 900 Nm of torque at 1,300 to 1,500 rpm. It is a basic mechanical loader with no electronics for easy maintenance.
While this loader usually dwells in construction sites, it is purposely built for round-the-clock type operations, as well as mine-ready. The loader has 23,5-25- 16PR-L-3 tires and a number of other adaptations for high-production work—like a 5,000 kg rated load, total hydraulic cycle time of 10.6 seconds.
One of the most remarkable features of the machine is its superb fuel economy, an average of 225g/kW/h—since it is considerably lighter than average gears in the 20-ton class.
In fact, it thrives with the motto of “Robust, Reliable and Supported”, which sums up the machine’s offering to the marketplace. In short, it is an honest workhorse that is built tough and is able to work 24/7.
These heavy equipment and commercial vehicles are just some of the products of Foton. In fact, Foton is even capitalizing on the country’s increasingly robust economy to achieve its goal of breaching 20,000 in sales by 2020.