- Olga Kokorina
- Translated by Olga Apetenok
- Ru Fr He Ar
Foton. Important element
Foton (Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd) is a large automobile company founded in 1996 by the merger of about 100 other companies from 13 regions in China. It is owned by the state, which is common practice in China. It manufactures passenger cars, SUVs, minibuses, large city buses, trucks, engines, tractors, agricultural machinery and more. Foton, which takes its name from the quantum of the electromagnetic field, is an important element not only of its parent company BAIC Group, but of the entire Chinese automotive industry as a whole.
A photon (from the ancient Greek word phōtós meaning "light") is an elementary particle that is a quantum of the electromagnetic field, including electromagnetic radiation such as light and radio waves, and the carrier of electromagnetic force. Photons have no mass, so they always travel in vacuum at the speed of light.
Foton is now a huge corporation headquartered in Changping District, Beijing. Its subsidiaries are located in different provinces of China, while its research centers are located in India, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and the Philippines. The company’s assets exceed 50 billion yuan, and the staff numbers 300,000 people. With a value of more than 61.932 billion yuan in 2005, the company ranked 1st in the Chinese automobile industry and 11th in the list of “500 Most Valuable Brands”.
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In 2003, the company signed a strategic partnership agreement with the German group Daimler. And already in 2004, Foton assembled its millionth car and started production of the popular Auv bus model. In March 2006, Foton and Cummins Inc. announced the creation of a joint venture for the production of 2.8 and 3.8 liter diesel engines. In July 2010, a European headquarters was established in Moscow, Russia, and a trading company in India was founded less than a year later. This was followed by factories in India, Colombia and Brazil. In 2015, Foton began to conquer the US market. In 2017, a joint venture with Piaggio was opened in Italy, and a year later in Bangladesh.
The company logo resembles a facetted diamond when viewed in profile. "Foton Diamond Logo" was awarded the title of Beijing's best trademark.
Model range
Foton’s model range is wide and diverse: small, medium and heavy trucks, special equipment, buses, agricultural equipment. The passenger model range is represented by a mid-size minivan and a larger business-class bus, as well as a Tunland pickup and a Sauvana body-on-frame SUV. For some time (in 2017), the Gratour im6 compact MPV was produced with a 1.5-liter gasoline engine, very similar to the Honda Odyssey model. The model range also included the Gratour im8 minivan that was better equipped and looked bigger thanks to body kits. In 2022, the company offers a wide range of commercial vehicles, as well as the Toano and CS2 minibuses, Tunland and Tunland G7 pickups.
Following the all-Chinese trend of borrowing technologies from more experienced colleagues in the beginning, Foton has cooperated with Japanese companies. So, the engine ranges include Mitsubishi gasoline engines, as well as ZF and Aisin transmissions. As for the design, the company went its own way, creating shining front ends for its models in the purely Asian style (for example, the Tunland pickup and the Sauvana SUV). By the end of the second decade of the 21st century, the appearance of Foton cars as a whole caught up with the products of colleagues and competitors, but you just need to take into account that these models are more affordable.
Foton Tunland
The Foton Tunland is an affordable compact pickup sold in China since November 2011, exported to Australia, Colombia and other emerging markets. The car is offered in 2 or 4-door versions, with 2.8-liter Cummins gasoline or turbo diesel engines. The pickup is equipped with a 5-speed manual gearbox, and there is an engageable four-wheel drive. In 2018, the car was restyled, and a year later an electric van version appeared with a driving range of 310 km.
Foton Sauvana
The Foton Sauvana is a mid-size SUV that debuted at the 2014 Guangzhou Motor Show. The vehicle was sold until 2021 in various countries where it is also known as Foton Toplander. The SUV was driven by a Mitsubishi 4G69 2.4-liter 4-cylinder gasoline engine with a capacity of 135 hp. It was equipped with a manual or automatic transmission. In addition, there was a diesel engine, like that of the original pickup. There were rear-wheel-drive or all-wheel-drive versions.
