Fuso Trucks and Buses Appoints New Distributor in Philippines

Fuso trucks and buses has a new Philippine distributor under Sojitz Fuso Philippines Corporation. Headed by its President and CEO Takatsugu Nitanai, it’s a 100 percent owned subsidiary of Sojitz Corporation, a Japanese general trading and investment company engaged in diversified businesses around the world.

Fuso trucks and buses have been available in the Philippines since 1969. A leading Japanese commercial vehicle manufacturer across many markets, it’s now an integral part of the Daimler Group—the world’s biggest commercial vehicle manufacturer that brings together brands such as Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Western Star, Thomas Built Buses, and BharatBenz.

Addressing the guests at the ceremony, Mr. Nitanai said, “We aspire for Fuso to be the first choice of commercial vehicle brand for businesses here in the Philippines. We will treat it as our mission to be able to provide a Fuso truck for every need of Filipino businessmen and women.”

Present also at the ceremony was Mr. Thomas Hilse, CEO, Daimler Commercial Vehicles South East Asia Pte. Ltd. together with Mr. Antonio Randazzo, Vice-President of FUSO Sales & Customer Services, South East Asia.

Fuso currently offers a diverse model of trucks and bus ranging from the light-duty Canter series (4-wheeler and 6-wheelers), medium-duty Fuso FI and FJ, and heavy-duty guises of the Fuso FJ in cargo and rigid configurations. Fuso also offers the Rosa light-duty bus in three (3) different seating capacities.

Mr. Mark Medina, SFP’s Vice President for Marketing and Sales, made a promise saying, “Being an exclusive distributor of the Fuso brand, SFP is passionate to grow the brand and the business. At the same time, new models will be introduced in the coming months to further serve various requirements and in parallel, the dealer network expansion will be accelerated to ensure that aftersales support is available across the country.”

SFP’s headquarters is located in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

Mitsubishi Confirms: L300 to Return with Euro-4 Compliant Engine

At the celebration of its one millionth vehicle sales in the country, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) announced that its venerable L300 is coming back to fulfill the need for a no-frills light-duty truck.

Though the Japanese carmaker has yet to give details, the L300 is coming back equipped with a Euro-4 compliant engine with improved power and torque. It’s currently unknown as to what engine series is found under the body of the revived L300, but expect it to have a common rail direct injection engine with a light-pressure turbo in order to meet the necessary emissions requirements.

Along with the new engine, the 2019 L300 will gain some cosmetic tweaks such as a new grille.

Before its phase out due to the Euro 4 emissions regulations taking effect, the L300 used a non-turbo version of the 2.5-liter 4D56 engine with 77 horsepower and 142 Nm of torque. A likely candidate to replace this engine is the same 4D56 albeit with an intercooler turbo installed. This could potentially bump up its power to 114 horsepower and 247 Nm of torque.

Mitsubishi is targeting the L300’s market release sometime later this year and will still be built out of MMPC’s impressive 21-hectare Santa Rosa, Laguna plant. Sources say that MMPC has contracted Almazora to handle the final assembly of the L300.