Beiqi Foton Motor Co., Ltd. (Foton Motor or Foton) is a Chinese company that designs and manufactures trucks, buses, SUVs and agricultural machinery. Foton Car Brand was founded on August 28, 1996 and is a subsidiary of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd ..
In March 2006, Foton and Cummins Inc. announced the creation of a joint venture in equal shares for the production of light-duty diesel engines.
In January 2009, Foton and Daimler AG agreed to set up a joint venture in equal shares for the production of medium and heavy trucks in China. The establishment of the enterprise was approved by the Chinese government in July 2010.
In October 2009, Foton agreed to set up a joint venture to develop and manufacture automobiles with Pulead Technology Industry Co.
In July 2010, Foton announced the creation of a European headquarters in Moscow, the capital of Russia.
In April 2011, Photon established a trading company in India.
Foton is building an assembly plant in Colombia to take part in the growing Latin American market for light commercial vehicles. The company also plans to build a plant in West Maharashtra, India. And as part of its globalization plan, Foton announced the construction of a bus plant in Brazil, in the state of Bahia.
Foton units are located in cities and provinces such as Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Liaoning, and Guangdong. Its R&D branches are located in Japan, Germany, Taiwan and the Philippines.
Foton and Daimler AG make commercial trucks. Their joint venture is called Beijing Foton Daimler Automobile Co., Ltd., and they sell their products under the brand name "Auman".
Foton also releases a copy of the Toyota Hiace H100, called the Foton View or Foton Alpha.