Foton Tunland electric ute coming to Australia soon

Foton Motors is set to re-enter Australia’s highly competitive ute market as early as this year – this time with an all-electric Toyota HiLux-sized dual-cab ute.

First introduced Down Under in 2014, the Chinese auto brand is perhaps best known for the now-discontinued Cummins diesel-powered Foton Tunland dual-cab 4x4 ute.

But a newer and exclusively battery-powered version of the Tunland will be its belated replacement in a range of Foton Motors New Energy commercial vehicles imported locally by Foton Mobility Distribution (FMD), a member of the TrueGreen Impact Investment Group.

The sole Australian Foton distributor’s new Foton Mobility brand is distancing itself from Foton’s previous local sales efforts, with a renewed focus on quality and the exclusive use of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell (FCEV) powertrains.

FMD will offer a range of battery-electric iBlue trucks and vans, plus FCEV heavy trucks and EV and FCEV buses via a new dealer network announced in January, and is currently delivering a new electric light commercial truck (4.5-6.0-tonne) known as the T5.

This week it launched the Asiastar Eurise D11 5.9m Electric Van, which is backed by a five-year/200,000km warranty (like Foton’s electric light trucks) and claimed to offer a class-leading 105kW battery pack, 1450kg of payload and a 300km driving range, “making it perfect for local and Last Mile delivery logistics”, says FMD.

Beyond the T5 and D11, by year’s end Foton is planning to offer a larger mid-size EV truck known as the T7 (9.0-12.0-tonne) and a hydrogen-powered 49-tonne prime-mover that piggybacks off the brand’s existing FCEV buses, with a larger Eurise electric van to follow in both commercial and 12-seat passenger bus forms.

However, FMD’s focus on EVs means Australians won’t be given access to an all-new dual-cab ute currently being developed by Foton in China, codenamed the P25 and aimed directly at market leaders like the HiLux.

Instead, the Foton Tunland EV – as it’s called in some markets – will be the only ute sold by the Chinese brand in the near-term Down Under, where it’s likely to go by another name.

FMD government and community liaison officer Mike Levin told carsales the electric ute, launched a year ago in China, will be competitively priced against the likes of the near-$100,000 LDV eT60, which became the first EV pick-up available in Australia in late 2022.

“The ute is still under development so there’s not a lot we can say about specifics, but we are hopeful of getting it to the Australian market,” he said.

“Everything we’ve seen on the specifications suggests it will be good and price-wise it will be competitive with the likes of the LDV.

“The quality should be excellent because it’s all built around the framework and history of building commercial EVs. Once we get it on the ground we can start testing and readying it for market.”

Foton’s New Energy model range comes from a considerable base of expertise and follows existing electric bus contracts with Australian government fleets.

Foton has confirmed its Australian retail network will comprise established dealers in Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Sydney, with additional sites being eyed off in Newcastle and Wollongong.

Officials are working to secure Australian Design Rule (ADR) compliance for each model, and to ensure their EVs offer competitive real-world ranges.

While the Tunland EV is expected to better the rear-drive LDV eT60’s 330km (WLTP) range, the Foton T5 truck is said to offer an unladen real-world range of about 270km when fitted with a pantech body, and a fully-loaded range of about 200km.

But Levin confirmed Foton Mobility would not be offering any combustion-powered vehicles in Australia.

“In about two months we’ll start to bring the first electric vans in, and what we’re looking to do is have a suite of products including two electric vans, light electric trucks, medium electric trucks and a 49-tonne hydrogen prime-mover by the middle of the year,” he revealed.

“The Foton 49-tonne hydrogen prime-mover is expected to arrive mid-year for testing and ADR compliance, and we should have full specs on this vehicle by mid-March.

“We’ll be able to go from big prime-movers down to vans and hopefully a very good electric ute – the whole spectrum of commercial operations.”

Six factory technicians and engineers from Foton’s Beijing headquarters have spent the past six months in Australia providing technical support and training to local personnel.

The Chinese brand has already secured modest fleet deals with the likes of Mainfreight transport in Australia, and is planning to offer charging and infrastructure solutions with the vehicles it sells.

FMD has just handed over five T5 electric trucks to Mainfreight; another 35 T5s are “already in the hands of dealerships or about to be delivered to fleet/logistics customers,” according to Levin.

It hopes its bourgeoning FCEV range will capitalise on the planned ‘Hume Hydrogen Highway’, a $20 million hydrogen refuelling network set to comprise “at least four stations” in NSW and Victoria.

Foton’s EV truck range is backed by a five-year/200,000km warranty in Australia, a positive portent for its dual-cab ute and van offerings.

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