BRAND EQUITY

FOTON MOTOR GROUP HAS RECORDED A HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE IN OMAN SO FAR, SAYS MA CANLIANG, DIRECTOR OF FOTON MIDDLE EAST REGION IN AN INTERVIEW TO DOSSIER. SAYING FOTON BRAND OF VEHICLES HAS ESTABLISHED A SOLID REPUTATION AMONG CUSTOMERS IN OMAN WITH ITS TECHNOLOGICALLY INNOVATIVE AND HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTS, HE INFORMS THAT PLANS ARE ON TO EXTEND ITS PRODUCT PORTFOLIO IN OMAN Can you share details of Foton brand’s presence in Oman?

Foton Motor Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in collaboration with Bahwan International Group Holding, through Gulf Great Sands LLC launched a full range of commercial vehicles in Oman in January 2019.

As a global automotive legend with an all-embracing history, outstanding rankings and notable joint-ventures with internationally reputed companies, Foton has successfully positioned itself in the top bracket in Oman. Foton has recorded excellent performance in Oman and we hope to continue to strengthen our performance in the region with a firm commitment to customer satisfaction and service.

The Foton vehicles available in Oman include light duty trucks, pickups, mini buses, panel vans, and SUVs. We have plans to launch heavy duty trucks, medium duty trucks among other vehicles. For the Oman market, we have been developing products according to local requirements and as per the GSO new regulations.

Our local partner has a state-of-art service centre in Ghala, Muscat,

spread over more than 2900 square meters to provide aftersales services to customers. GGS has already tied up for Periodic Maintenance Services in key cities including Salalah and Sohar.

Foton brand vehicles have established a solid reputation among customers in Oman with their technologically innovative and high-quality products. In Oman, we have plans to extend our product portfolio. We have already launched light commercial vehicles in the market. Oman market has great potential and is a promising market for the range products of Foton Motors Group.

What is the range of commercial vehicles available in Oman?

Since we commenced the supply of a range of Foton’s commercial vehicles through our exclusive distribution partnership with Gulf Great Sands in Oman more than a year ago, we have garnered a great response from customers. Foton models available in Oman: Foton Aumark Light Duty Truck (3.8L Turbo Diesel Engine); Foton Tunland Pickup (D/cab 2.0L Turbo Engine 4WD; 2.4L DC 2WD; 2.4L Pickup SC 2WD, All Gasoline only); Foton Cargo/Panel Van and Minibus (Cargo Van Wide Body & Narrow Body 2-seater, Mini Bus

Wide & Narrow Body 13/ 10-seater) and Foton Sauvana SUV (2.0L Turbo, 4WD, 7-Seater).

What are the technological innovations that set Foton ahead of its competitors?

Foton invests heavily in research, development and state-of-theart manufacturing facilities. This ensures all Foton vehicles are created with current as well as emerging technologies. Besides, while

Foton is fitted with the best in the business, the price of the vehicles has been kept affordable. To combat environmental pollutions, Foton has been upgrading its fossil-fuel powered vehicles and developing new energy vehicles.

All Foton vehicles boast highest levels of quality and design, due to its partnership with leading names from the industry like Daimler of Germany for Heavy Duty Trucks, ZF of Germany for Transmission and Cummins of USA for Engine plus among others. The Joint Ventures (JV) with these companies has enhanced the technical and management support to the Foton Motor company, which in turn has resulted in enhancing quality of the mechanical components of the new generation of commercial vehicles.

With regard to the company’s efforts to keep up with modern trends, commercial vehicles from Foton Motor Group have been equipped with comfortable driver’s seats, multifunction steering wheel, media equipment like MP3, FM/AM Radio, USB /AUX and etc, while the heavy trucks which is used for long distance trips have been equipped with comfortable beds inside its cabin. As for the safety features Foton Motors is fully familiar with the new Gulf regulations for the vehicle safety features. All Foton products comply with Gulf safety standards. In accordance with that Foton vehicles are equipped with all safety systems and devices of various categories such as ABS, EBD, off gas brake, Heavy duty suspension systems to handle heavy load condition.

Foton has joined hands with several well-known worldwide enterprises such as Cummins, ZF, CEVA Logistics, Faurecia, Wabco, Continental Electron, TUV Rheinland and others to establish “Foton Global Innovating Alliance”, aiming to make breakthroughs in science and technology, and produce energysaving, environmental friendly and intelligently interconnected automobile products.

How has Foton brand performed in the Middle East region and Oman in particular?

Middle East is one of the most important markets for us. Thanks to attributes like build quality, durability, and reliability, Foton vehicles enjoy a significant market share. Foton Motors’ focus in the overseas and Middle East markets began more than 15 years ago. Foton commercial has positioned itself as a trusted partner to its customers in the Middle East. We have regional spare parts distribution centre at Jebel Ali Free Zone Area in Dubai to cover the availability of the spare parts in the region. The presence of the spare parts distribution centre in Dubai has contributed to speeding up the delivery of spare parts within a day or two days, while it could take 20 days to deliver the same requirements from China.

Having established nine subsidiaries, Foton has made its way to over 110 countries. Since 2010, it has been rolling out more localised products for its global customers. With a business scope covering a full series of commercial vehicles, Foton has a record of an accumulative production and sales volume of approximately 8.8 million vehicles since being established in 1996.

With a brand value which has been evaluated as about $16.6 billion, Foton has been ranked number one for 13 consecutive years in China’s commercial vehicle arena.

How do you see the growth of commercial vehicles in the year ahead?

The company witnessed year-onyear growth in its commercial vehicle sales. The road for large commercial vehicles looks positive. I believe different factors will contribute and drive the global growth of commercial vehicles. Foton Motor Group is strongly positive as we are expanding our product range with modern technologies to drive growth.