Yet another Chinese brand reveals Aussie launch plans

Chinese budget car brand Forthing has declared it will launch in Australia in late October, with the Friday medium SUV set to lead the charge.

Dongfeng Forthing will join GAC and Denza as the latest Chinese brands arriving in Australia if it sticks to its current ambitious schedule.

It plans to sell its vehicles via an orthodox dealer network, with hopes to start at five to 10, eventually expanding to 50 outlets.

Forthing also wants to have the first cars in the hands of customers before the end of 2025.

The Chinese car-maker is planning to enter Australia as part of Dongfeng’s Liuzhou’s Riding the Wind export strategy, which plans to export 16 new electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid models globally, and generate 300,000 overseas sales by 2030.

Dongfeng Liuzhou (which sells Forthing passenger cars and Chenglong commercial vehicles) right hand drive deputy director import and export company, Kim Qin said Australian sales ambitions were modest, even though other Chinese brands such as BYD were enjoying huge success here.

“Not everybody's BYD. Just like not everybody is Tesla, not everybody is Apple,” she said.

“But I think we still have our space… we still have our location in this market.”

The Friday will be offered as both an EV and range extender in Australia. A plug-in hybrid people-mover called the U-Tour will launch alongside it, with potentially two more Forthing models to join them.

Forthing then wants to grow the range by one to two models per annum.

And, in good news for Aussies, a Forthing ute is in the early stages of development and will also be a candidate for local sale.

The Forthing Friday is a 4600mm long, 1860mm wide, 1680mm tall five-seat SUV underpinned by a 2715mm wheelbase.

Powered by a 150kW/340Nm e-motor driving the front wheels, it comes with a 64.4kWh lithium-iron phosphate battery pack and a claimed 425km range. The maximum DC fast charging rate is only 80kW.

The Friday is expected to be priced below the compact BYD Atto 3, which starts at $39,990 plus on-road costs.

While Forthing says the Friday is close to the Australian Design Rule certification, it will not be submitted for an ANCAP rating.

Forthing says it will sign a distribution partner in September, that will conduct the launch, set up a dealer network and start delivering cars to customers by Christmas.

Ateco Group, the distributor of Renault, LDV and RAM in Australia (among others), is being presented as the front-runner for the job by Forthing.

Qin said “discussions” with Ateco were underway.

“We have to launch in the end of October so we have to have to decide in this month.

“We have already done some research in Australia. We talked to many companies in Australia at the moment already.”

Ateco wasn’t quite so willing to admit to these talks.

“The Ateco Group is regularly in discussions with emerging and existing brands regarding the distribution of motor vehicles in Australia and New Zealand, but does not comment on discussions, proposals or speculation”, it said in a statement.

The small Sydney EV specialist iGZEV, which carsales reported last month as wanting to bring the Friday to Australia, has apparently been ruled out as an option by Forthing. 

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