Story and Spy Pics by Rohan Patil
We recently got our hands on a new set of spy pics of the Foton Tunland pickup truck. For those of you who aren’t aware, Foton is China’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer and is currently in process of setting up their manufacturing facility at Chakan, near Pune. Foton has already set up their corporate office in Kalyani Nagar, Pune. It is only here that the test mules you see in these pics were spotted.
It is being said that India would get the double cab body variant of the Tunland. Internationally, the Tunland is powered by a Euro IV compliant Cummins 2.8 litre Turbo Diesel engine. Power of this engine is rated at 160 BHP (120 KW) and torque is pegged at 360 NM. Interestingly, this engine is designed to last 500,000 kms as per Cummins, if adhered to the regular service interval of 5000 kms. It is mated to a 5 speed manual transmission supplied by Getrag (Germany). The Tunland pickup is available in both 4×4 and 4×2 variants.
The design of the Tunland is such that it can easily pass off as a Tata Xenon when viewed from a distance. The Tunland sports a projector headlight setup and fog lights on the front. The rear is rather plain jane, housing chunky tail-lamps, which don’t exactly help in improving things.
Internationally the Tunland is equipped with Airbags, ABS and EBD and scored 3 stars in the ANCAP ratings. The Indian version, however, could be stripped down a fair bit to keep the costs competitive.
The Tunland, which will be the first product from Foton in India, will be pitted against the Tata Xenon, Mahindra Scorpio Getaway and the Isuzu D-max.
Stay tuned to Motoroids for more details of the Foton Tunland.