[First Commercial Vehicle Network Original]
Since the beginning of this year, Foton Motor's overseas business has continued the strong growth trend of last year, and the "Comprehensive Internationalization" strategy has entered a new phase.
In May 2026, Foton Motor's total sales exceeded 58,000 units, up 17.3% year-on-year; among them, overseas sales broke through again, with a single-month sales volume of 18,000 units, up 64.3% year-on-year. Cumulative sales from January to May reached 89,000 units, up 38% year-on-year, continuing to lead China's commercial vehicle exports. This report card is not only a rise in numbers but also the inevitable result of its years of adhering to strategic stability and deepening localized operations, marking that Foton's globalization process has steadily entered the harvest period of high-quality development.
For details, please refer to the latest report brought by First Commercial Vehicle Network.
Structural Growth Drives May Sales to New Highs
In May, Foton Motor's overseas single-month sales exceeded 18,000 units, up 64.3% year-on-year, continuing to lead the Chinese commercial vehicle overseas export industry. Cumulatively, from January to May 2026, Foton's total overseas exports exceeded 89,000 units, up 38% year-on-year, maintaining strong growth momentum on the basis of last year's high base, showing the resilience and vitality of its global market layout. This series of positive signals has laid a solid foundation for achieving its annual overseas goals.
Behind the high growth is the continuous optimization of the export structure and the full-scale effort of high-value-added models. The May data continued the strong momentum of the previous high-end transformation, among which the high-end product line represented by Auman heavy trucks grew particularly outstanding. In May, driven by large order deliveries in strategic markets such as Africa and Central Asia, the Auman heavy truck product line's growth also reached a new high. In addition, Foton Cavan CAVAN C1 recently appeared at the German IFAT Exhibition, receiving high attention from the European market, and also added support for the export of high-end new energy products.
From the perspective of regional markets, Foton's global map presents a gratifying situation of "blooming in multiple points and comprehensive breakthroughs". The high-end strategy in the European market has shown initial results. With the brand effect brought by the TUNLAND V9 pickup winning international awards, as well as the batch delivery of electric light trucks in Spain, European orders continued to maintain high growth from January to May. In Africa, with the successive delivery of the Dangote Group's order of more than a thousand trucks in Nigeria, and the capacity release of the local factory in South Africa, Foton has become a key participant in infrastructure construction and logistics transportation in that region. This full-spectrum breakthrough from points to surfaces, from traditional power to new energy, makes the foundation of Foton's overseas market growth more solid.
Localization Operations Build Competitive Barriers
The secret to sales continuously leading lies in Foton's deep insight into overseas market laws and the solid cultivation of "long-termism". Unlike simple trade models, Foton takes "putting global scenarios into the database" as the origin of product competitiveness. Relying on overseas technology centers spread across the globe, Foton has established a "Global Adaptability Compendium" covering 59 countries and 140 high-frequency markets, transforming 16 typical scenarios such as high temperature, high cold, and dusty into technical standards of 49 key modules and 91 quantitative performance elements, thereby ensuring that every product launched overseas can accurately adapt to local complex working conditions and user habits.
This R&D model based on big data and scenario-driven makes Foton thoroughly say goodbye to "passive fire-fighting" style after-sales rectification. For example, for the heavy load and long downhill operating conditions in the African market, Foton started from selection and verification requirements and provided a complete solution for heavy truck models; and in the high-temperature desert environment in Saudi Arabia, by optimizing the air conditioning system and thermal management scheme, the cooling effect of the bus was significantly improved. It is this extreme pursuit of details that made Foton products win the trust of global top customers such as Dangote Group and Central Asian port operators, continuously winning thousand-level large orders, and converting technical standards into real market share.
More critically, Foton's localization operations have been upgraded from "product adaptability improvement" to "whole industry chain rooting". Whether in manufacturing bases in Brazil and Thailand, or KD factories in South Africa and Saudi Arabia, Foton has not only achieved localized production but also driven the full localization of supply chains, services, and talent. In South Africa, relying on the Port Elizabeth factory, Foton provided customized heavy truck and pickup products for the local area; in Thailand, the launch of the 2000th heavy truck marked that it had deeply integrated into the local logistics system. In March this year, Foton and COSCO SHIPPING Special Carriers established a joint company to build a self-controllable sea transport supply chain system, further consolidating the logistics base for global development. This deeply bound industrial ecosystem effectively avoids trade barriers and builds a "moat" that competitors find difficult to replicate in the short term.
"Comprehensive Internationalization" Strategy Leads to Accelerate towards World-Class Commercial Vehicle Enterprises
From "Product Going Global" to "Brand Going Global", and then to "Ecosystem Going Global", Foton Motor's clear strategic path is the key to its continuous leadership in the industry. Facing global industrial changes, Foton firmly promotes the "Comprehensive Internationalization" strategy, positioning overseas business as the core growth pole and giving resource allocation. Since 2026, Foton has steadily promoted strategic execution, achieving rapid response to global market demands by strengthening the collaborative efficiency of market, product, service, and technology platforms.
Looking to the future, Foton's global layout is still pushing towards depth—in the industrial end, the local factories in key markets such as Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will accelerate production, and the local matching ratio of key components will also be further improved. This not only helps reduce production costs and risks but also deeply integrates into the local industrial chain, transforming from a purely vehicle enterprise to a provider of regional traffic solutions. At the same time, Foton is actively collaborating with excellent domestic supply chain partners to "go out together" and jointly build a more resilient global industrial system.
In terms of technology and products, Foton's "Comprehensive New Energy" and "Comprehensive Intelligentization" strategies are accelerating to extend overseas. Relying on independent three-electric core technologies, Foton is accelerating the promotion of electric, hybrid, and fuel cell commercial vehicle products' overseas coverage, and deeply integrating intelligent technologies with local needs. From the pure electric light truck eMiler listed in Singapore and the new generation medium truck Auman D series, to the TUNLAND V series hybrid pickups landing in Europe, Foton's high-end and new energy product matrix has been implemented in multiple overseas regions. Recently, the Foton brand officially landed in Suriname, further improving its strategic layout in Central America and the Caribbean. It can be foreseen that with the continuous promotion of the strategy, Foton will not only lead in sales volume but also occupy a more core position in the global commercial vehicle value chain.
Concluding Remarks
Looking back from the bright performance in May, Foton Motor's globalization journey has entered the fast lane. It has proved by practice that Chinese commercial vehicle enterprises are fully capable of competing with international giants on the global stage with technological innovation and systemized operations. Time has passed half of 2026, and Foton's overseas business is going towards the annual goal with an irresistible momentum.
