The Year of the Sheep has been anything but sheepish for FOTON Philippines, one of the key manufacturers displaying their lineup of award-winning vehicles at the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) this April 9 to 12, 2015 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
Starting off the year on a high note was FOTON’s announcement of a new FIVE-YEAR WARRANTY on their FOTON/Cummins ISF-powered Thunder and View Traveller vehicles,a segment-first warranty that challenged conventional biases and reinforced FOTON’s reputation as a builder of world-class vehicles for light and heavy commercial use. This new warranty has been warmly received by dealers and customers alike, immediately showing in the increased uptake of these two modelsthat are rapidly becoming FOTON’s signature vehicles in the public eye.
The success of the Thunder and View Traveller is no accident; it is due largely to the reputation for reliability and robustness of their 2.8 liter Cummins ISF CRDI engines, now jointly built by FOTON and Cummins, the world’s leading manufacturer of diesel engines. As a result of the success of these two light-commercial vehicles,FOTON’s two most powerful commercial vehicles – the GTL 6×4 Tractor Head and Tornado C – launched at FOTON’s Big Show 2014 – have been equipped with FOTON/Cummins engines: a massive 11-liter ISG diesel engine for the GTL; and a new 3.8-liter ISF diesel engine for the Tornado. The FOTON/Cummins update on these two workhorses is a virtual guarantee of long-term dependability and productivity for commercial use.
Within FOTON’s light to heavy-duty commercial range, the Tornado series has been the cornerstone of FOTON’s popularity and success since first setting wheels on Philippine shores, owing to its early-proven reliability, and the versatility of its readily-customizable platform. Customers from different industries could easily configure the Tornado to suit their businesses’ requirements – whether they were in food, clothing, logistics or anything else in between. Recently, the Tornado – particularly the Tornado 3.5 Crane Truck – caught the attention of several Local Government Units (LGUs), which promptly acquired units for their respective cities/municipalities for conversion into emergency rescue vehicles, complete with first aid equipment; a secure passenger area and an unsinkable, multi-seat rescue raft mounted on its roof.
The GTL 6×4 Tractor head, on the other hand, has been noticed and praised by logistics companies as a practical and profitable alternative tohighly-priced European alternatives. The GTL was designed and built in collaboration with FOTON’s European partners to meet European standards of reliability; while keeping acquisition and maintenance costs down and profitability high. This long-haul vehicle can be driven worry-free, day after day, with the peace of mind that FOTON’s Total Care package offers to operators.
On the subject of operators; transport operators have recently been realizing turnkey profits from their UV-Shuttle services with FOTON’s View TransVan, launched at the last FOTON Big Show (2014). With more comfortable seats than its main Japanese rival, the TransVan also boasts of an easily-reconfigured seat layout; enabling rapid last-minute changes to accommodate either more cargo, or more passengers, for an extra measure of flexibility.
Fans of Big Hero 6 will be pleasantly surprised to see the film’s lead character, Baymax, recreated from a View Traveller van by ATOY at the FOTON booth at MIAS.The standard View Traveller already flaunts cavernous space; “Baymax” makes the best use of that space to the delight of its young actor owner, a second-generation child star who will grace the MIAS crowd with an appearance over the weekend. Also expected to arrive at the FOTON booth is theFOTONTornadoesladies’ volleyball team,currently ranked second in the ongoing Philippine Superliga conference. Starring young stellar players such as Araneta, Gervacio, Lastimosaand Tiamzon, the Tornadoes has become one of the most promising teams in the league.
Whether you’re into business, family or sports, the FOTON booth will have exactly what you need to make your MIAS trip worthwhile.
