Second Made-in-India Fuso Truck Hits South African CV Market
Published On Aug 25, 2016
After the huge response of FA 9-137 introduced in South Africa last year, Fuso Trucks Southern Africa (FTSA), a division of Daimler Trucks & Buses Southern Africa (DTBSA), has launched a second truck in the country. Like FA 9-137, this new vehicle, FJ 16-230, has also been made in India. Customers in South Africa have welcomed the India-made vehicles, thus putting to rest the quality issues that were raised initially. FTSA previously used to source its products from Japan.
Kobus van Zyl, Executive Director, DTBSA, said that as compared to 2015, sales numbers of Fuso trucks in South Africa are predicted to increase by 10 percent this year. “We had an aggressive sales target on the FA 9, but have doubled this already. The made-in-India products are growing at an even faster rate this year, and we see this trend continuing,” he adds.
FJ 16-230 Features
The new FJ 16-230 caters to several applications such as distribution, rental, courier and small, medium-sized businesses. The truck comes in medium to heavy duty range and fills in the gap left in the current Fuso line-up. Complying with Euro 3 emission norms, FJ 16-230 is equipped with a 6.37 litre, water-cooled, direct-injection, turbocharged diesel engine that generates power output of 228 kw at 2,200 rpm and a decent torque of 810 Nm at 1,200-1,600 rpm.
With a GVW of 16,600 kg and a payload capacity of up to 8,000 kg, the FJ truck comes with a 4x2 axle and a heavy duty suspension. Cabin interiors include a three-way adjustable seat, standard air-conditioning, tilt-and-telescoping steering wheel, indicator (that shows the driver the correct gear and speed required).
Future plans
After the huge response of the FA and FJ models, Daimler is looking forward to introduce more trucks from its Chennai plant. Daimler mostly competes in the premium segment, however, these Fuso trucks will be competing with Hino, Isuzu Trucks and UD Trucks in the intermediate commercial vehicle segment in the country.
The company is also looking out for localized assembly and will be eventually assembling the new Fuso trucks at DTBSA’s East London plant, in the Eastern Cape. Currently the trucks are imported from India as fully built-up units.
He said that the commercial vehicle maker has a 100% commitment to assemble from completely knockdown kits as soon as possible. “We just need a change in the production process in India to allow for this. This process is more imminent than long term, as localization is becoming a requirement everywhere in the world,” he further added.
The vehicle has a price band of R630000 and R640000 for short-wheel-base model and long-wheel-base model, respectively.