I'm officially requesting admin to create a new thread for BEIQI FOTON. Its one of the biggies in the chinese auto industry, & aggressively exporting.

I'm officially requesting admin to create a new thread for BEIQI FOTON. Its one of the biggies in the chinese auto industry, & aggressively exporting.

what cars do they make and how many do they export?

They don't make cars yet, but they showed an MPV at the Beijing auto show, they produce an SUV & pick-ups. They're mainly into commercial vehicles. Insofar as export is concerned, following is from their website:
"By the end of 2005, Foton Motors had established South Asia market for CKD with Pakistan as its center and CIS area market for SKD with Ukraine as its center. In addition, the company has established North African regional market for vehicles with Algeria as its center, the Gulf regional market for vehicles with Kuwait as its center and south African regional market for medium/heavy trucks with Angola as its center. The company has begun to explore the following three strategic markets: Russia , India and Iran . By the end of 2005, the Foton Overseas Business Department had exported nearly 16,000 vehicles of all types, amounting to total revenues of 64 million US dollars."

Am I getting this right ?

They make no passenger cars ,
yet they showed a prototype of a copied MPV
but they produce copies of SUVs , copies of MPVs and clones of trucks

and you think they need a forum for what exactly ?
No sorry , you lose , no forum for " Foton " ! ( altho thier name sounds cool ) :P

I'm sorry you feel that way. I'm not altogether clear as to what the criteria are for independent threads on this forum. If originality of design were one, I don't think that any of the manufacturers who currently have their own threads qualify. If having a passenger car were one, at least three of the companies who have their own threads would not qualify. However, if presence in the market-Chinese or otherwise-were a criterion, or sales volume, or name-recognition in China, I believe that Beiqi-Foton deserves a thread. After all, only DaimlerChrysler & Cummins have recognized their potential enough to enter into joint-venture agreements with them.

I think that this company is the Volvo of the Chinese automotive industry. They make unexciting products, they don't make a big splash in the news, they don't make toys & eye candy, they're just a solid, plodding conglomerate in china which regularly ranks in the top five automotive manufacturers year after year.

Ok I am not the forum admin , but I think cars enlisted with thier own sub-forums , are mostly chinese cars with intentions of Exporting to the us or any other country else than china , Since I believe this whole forum was to assis the non-chinese and the chinese living abroad of buying a chinese brand when or if its available at thier countries .

I don't live in china , you propably know 39201903912039210 stuff more than me , but still the discussions going on here are about new car designs from chinese companies , pirated car designs and the majority of the posts/topics are about passenger cars , sedans , hatchbacks , suvs or even MPVs.

So I think making a sub-forum for Foton , won't be a problem, but I doubt that anyone will even talk there .

since ther's already sub-forums for chinese brands which are almost dead .
the most posts and topics are in Chery & Geely , simply because they expanded worldwide . not because they are better or anything/

I'm officially requesting admin to create a new thread for BEIQI FOTON. Its one of the biggies in the chinese auto industry, & aggressively exporting.

u make it sound so indegenious when they are copies of Isuzu (Japanese):nono:

sorry, i don't understand what "indegenious" means. if you mean indigenous, & refer to the company, you are right since they started as a purely chinese company w/ no ties to foreign companies. if you are referring to their designs, you are right again in your sentiment that they more-or-less have copied existing japanese design, although not necessarily only isuzu. having seen their products up close, w/ch i hope you have as well, since you seem to have dismissed them so readily, i can honestly say that they have introduced some home-grown design elements to their products w/ch are not readily apparent in pictures. one has to really see the products in actuality before one can make such a rash judgment in either direction. there are glaring examples of shameless copies of someone else's designs in the chinese auto industry, but i think foton is not one of those perpetuators.

now, if you mean disingenuous, & refer to the manner in w/ch i presented my facts-you have highlighted part of my statement-i assure you that i speak w/ a factual basis. look up any statisical record w/ reference to the chinese auto industry, & you will find the company beiqi foton very near the top.

in fact, i am representing beiqi-foton in the philippines, or to put it more accurately, my company does. i have seen the products they sell, i have met the people who make them, & i have seen where they make them. so, i do believe that i know whereof i speak. i hope that you can make the same claim.

Hi Chinoy54

I have never seen the foton vehicle in the flesh, since u work for the company, can u please host pictures of the design bits that are chinese, because from the pictures foton vehicles look very Isuzu.:confused:

hello, god_bless_japan. i don't work for beiqi-foton. my company has the distributorship for some of their products in the philippines. before we even considered assembling their products locally, we went to their production plants several times to see their products & meet the people. now, before i answer your question, you have to answer mine. what exactly did you mean when you said "indegenious"?

hi Chinox54, by indeginous i meant original, homegrown, not imported, copied.

for example red indians/ native indians are indiginous people in america, white europeans are settlers.

or land rover is and indeginous car maker in UK, Nissan primera built in sunderland uk is not, :thumb: ;)

Peugeot,citroen, renault are indiginous cars of france, toyota yaris built/assembled in frace (qualifies as european) is not indiginous.

hope u get my drift

yup, i get your drift, but may i suggest that you should turn your spell check on, because you misspelled indigenous three times in your post, actually four, including the previous post. "native to" would probably be easier to spell. now that i understand what you mean, i can answer your question. the foton view-a commercial van-is not isuzu at all, isuzu doesn't produce a commercial van. the ollin series of small-to-medium trucks has some elements of "isuzuness" especially in the grille design, but the headlights are totally different. also, the engines are based on the old toyota r4, 4-cylinder straight diesels, but w/timing gears instead of the original timing belts. in future, they will be given licensed cummins engines, i imagine, given their very recent tie-up w/ that firm. the aumark line of heavy trucks have licensed cummins & probably mercedes-benz licensed engines as well. the forland series of small trucks starts w/a very basic, utilitarian cab w/ch is entirely self-designed. it's not pretty, but its theirs. i'll organize some pics for posting at a later date.

sorry about the spelling mistake, i look forewark to you pictures. appretiate your engine details. From the pictures the vehicle looks like an isuzu:)

foton has 3 basic series of light to medium trucks. Below are pictures together w/ one of the isuzu n-series, their direct competition. as is readily apparent, the foton trucks are not copies of the isuzu n-series. in fact, foton has added some exterior touches to the cab of the forland series w/ch are, so far unique to them-the turn signal is placed just below the windshield on both sides of the cab front.

Beiqi Foton (located in Shahe, Beijing) is one of the biggest light truck producers and the biggest tractor producer in China. For a Chinese company Foton has relatively good build quality. It's no wonder that DaimlerChrysler has decided to set up a joint-venture with Foton to build heavy trucks. Foton has an incredibly wide model range of light trucks, heavy trucks, vans and buses in China. In 2003 Foton produced 260 000 vans and pick-ups and 209 000 trucks (light, medium, heavy).

Some of the Foton products include:

Auman: range of heavy trucks
Aoling N-series: light truck (resembles Isuzu)
Aoling T-series: Isuzu pick-up clone
Forland: range of light trucks (L300, Isuzu etc.)
View Surfing: SUV based on Isuzu pick-up
Alpha: Hiace clone
Sea Lion: Hiace clone
Aumark: new range of light trucks (own design)
AUV: range of city buses
Ollin: light truck range (own design)
Lovol: range of dump trucks (FAW design)
Saga: new SUV (2006- )
MP-X: new mini bus, entirely Foton design

Pictures of models:

http://www.fotonmotors.ru/images/catalog/auman1b_1.jpg
OLLIN

http://www.fotonmotors.ru/images/catalog/auman5b.jpg
AUMAN

http://www.chinamobil.ru/photo/FotAlphaMinibus/full/foton2.jpg
ALPHA

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/51336194/Spare_Part_for_Foton_Truck.jpg
AUMAN

http://www.ugs.com/about_us/success/images/foton1_large.jpg
OLLIN SUP

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50552476/Passenger_Bus.jpg
AUV -line

Ok I am not the forum admin , but I think cars enlisted with thier own sub-forums , are mostly chinese cars with intentions of Exporting to the us or any other country else than china , Since I believe this whole forum was to assis the non-chinese and the chinese living abroad of buying a chinese brand when or if its available at thier countries .

I don't live in china , you propably know 39201903912039210 stuff more than me , but still the discussions going on here are about new car designs from chinese companies , pirated car designs and the majority of the posts/topics are about passenger cars , sedans , hatchbacks , suvs or even MPVs.

So I think making a sub-forum for Foton , won't be a problem, but I doubt that anyone will even talk there .

since ther's already sub-forums for chinese brands which are almost dead .
the most posts and topics are in Chery & Geely , simply because they expanded worldwide . not because they are better or anything/

i tottally agree with this assumption cryptonx

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/51336194/Spare_Part_for_Foton_Truck.jpg
AUMAN

http://www.ugs.com/about_us/success/images/foton1_large.jpg
OLLIN SUP

http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50552476/Passenger_Bus.jpg
AUV -line


the foton symbol badge looks like transformers deceptacons or whatevers logo

China's Beiqi Foton Motor truck JV talks with DaimlerChrysler suspended-report
03.16.2006, 07:29 PM


BEIJING XFN-ASIA) - Beiqi Foton Motor Co's talks with DaimlerChrysler AG to set up a truck joint venture have been suspended because of regulatory hurdles, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a senior executive at the Chinese firm.

Robin Wu, chief design officer at Beiqi Foton, said in an interview that the US-German auto maker may still explore options with its existing Chinese partners to help the planned joint venture meet regulatory requirements.

The companies had agreed to set up a 50-50 venture to make DaimlerChrysler's Actros and Foton's Auman-branded trucks, Wu was quoted as saying in the report.

The partnership was part of a 1.21 bln usd deal signed in 2003 between DaimlerChrysler and Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Beiqi Foton's parent, to expand on a 20-year alliance, the report said.

But China's current policy, which allows foreign auto makers to set up at most two passenger-car joint ventures and two commercial-vehicle joint ventures in China, has prevented the deal from going through, Wu said.

DaimlerChrysler has a commercial-vehicle venture, DaimlerChrysler Vans (China) Ltd., with Fujian Motor Industry Group and Taiwan-based China Motor Corp.

The venture, based in Fujian province, produces Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Viano multipurpose vehicles.

In its other China venture, Yaxing Benz Ltd., DaimlerChrysler and Jiangsu Yaxing Motor & Coach Group each own a 50 pct stake.

'We are still waiting for government approval... Once we get a license for a marriage we will do it immediately,' Wu said.

However, an official from China's top economic planning agency said chances of granting a license to the third joint venture are minimal.

'China won't loosen the restriction, at least for now,' said Li Wanli, a division chief under the Department of Industrial Policy in the National Development and Reform Commission.

I'm officially requesting admin to create a new thread for BEIQI FOTON. Its one of the biggies in the chinese auto industry, & aggressively exporting.

You are right chinoy54. Beiqi Foton is a industry force to be reckoned with and recognized. As we see in Pokershark's article, Foton is a subsidiary of BAIHC (Beijing Auto Industry Holding Corp). So like Beijing Hyundai, Beiijing Auto Works, and Beijing Jeep (the former American Motors and Beijing Auto Works joint venture of 1983) it falls under the BAIHC umbrella.

If there's no justification for a separate thread for this truckmaker, I think there should be one for BAIHC whose holdings include passenger cars.

Given its hefty assets, I am surprised that it chooses to assemble a pickup that it purchases from body manufacturer Fudi Auto rather than designing its own. They use Fudi's short wheelbase version seen above.

that surprised me as well. i mentioned that anomaly to the marketing people, very politely i might add, since they are sensitive about it, & they sheepishly replied that, in their rush to enter the pick-up truck market, w/ch they see as a growth area in the next few years, they cobbled together the sup. as of november, 2006 they have produced their own pick-ups although still in the old design, w/ch was disappointing. as you can see from their products, they are not particularly innovative in design, but are a solid manufacturing firm. they should get some italian design firm to crank out some concepts for them.

im thinking of adding foton subforum in the chinese trucks subforum

what do you think?

but if u put this in trucks, wont GWM and zhongxing also go in trucks section?

hmm...im just thinking whether it should get its own subforum, and if so ,,,where should it go...

ccf members and mods...please advise

hmm...im just thinking whether it should get its own subforum, and if so ,,,where should it go...

ccf members and mods...please advise

well, they don't make cars, so they don't belong in the car forum, but they make pick-ups, suvs, & now have introduced an mpv, w/ch should place them in the car forum. its a toss up, in my opinion. flip a coin, i'll go w/ whatever you decide.

Chinoy54, you work for FOTON at Phillipine? I work for FOTON Indonesia. May be we could exchange informations regarding FOTON. My email is

no email, please PM

Welcome to Chinacarforums luckyjack, if there is enough foton support here we can open a forum here for you guys