Founded on August 28, 1996, Foton manufactures light and heavy-duty
trucks, agricultural
tractors, and various other machinery. Foton International Trade Co., Ltd, Beijing, is Foton Motor Group's international sales subsidiary. In addition to the heavier trucks, Foton also builds a car inspired by the
Toyota HiAce H100, called the "Foton View" or "Foton Alpha". In August 2002, the company started producing Foton Auman truck. In October 2009, Foton agreed to form a joint venture to develop and produce vehicle batteries with Pulead Technology Industry Co. In July 2010, Foton announced the establishment of a European headquarters in Moscow, Russia. Foton established a sales company in India in April 2011. In February 2012, Beiqi Foton Motors Co., Ltd. and Daimler AG established a 50-50 joint venture, Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Ltd., at an investment of RMB6.35 billion. The joint venture would take over Foton's existing Auman medium- and heavy-duty truck business, including production sites, sales and service network. Foton will build an assembly plant in
Colombia, in order to participate in the growing
Latin American market for light commercial vehicles. The company also plans to build a plant in Western
Maharashtra, India. Foton has announced a bus factory in Brazil in the state of Bahia, as part of their globalization plan. Foton has held a press conference in 2015, previewing the Sauvana while announcing news to bring the brand to the United States. In September 2017, Foton and
Piaggio agreed to form a joint venture to develop and produce light commercial vehicle. Based on Foton chassis the new vehicle was sold by Piaggio Commercial Vehicle division in Europe and in all market around the world but not in China. The vehicle was intended as a successor of the
Piaggio Porter and production was planned to starts in the mid 2019 in
Pontedera (
Italy) with all components produced by Foton in China. In August 2018, Foton Motor announced they would set up a plant in
Bangladesh by next year to assemble commercial vehicles in a joint venture with
ACI Motors. On 25 April 2019, Foton and
CP has announced a truck factory in Thailand name CP FOTON SALES CO., LTD. Now have the electric truck name Auman EST, AUMARK and AUV. In 2024, a joint partnership was established with
Otokar of Turkey, including local production. In December 2024, Cavan Auto (卡文汽车), a new energy commercial vehicle brand jointly owned by Foton Motor,
Bosch, SinoHytec, and BAIC Capital, was launched. Cavan products are sold as a sub-brand of Foton, with the first product being the Lefu (乐福) van, unveiled alongside the Beacon, a concept heavy-duty truck. The Lefu is based on the Toano View i9 electric van. ==Operations==