On April 26, 2024, Foton Motor released its 2023 annual report and the first-quarter report for 2024, indicating a robust performance. The annual revenue for 2023 reached 56.097 billion yuan, a 20.78% year-on-year increase, with a net profit of approximately 909 million yuan, a staggering 1262.27% increase from the previous year. Moving into the first quarter of 2024, Foton Motor continued its strong growth momentum, with a net profit of approximately 207 million yuan excluding non-recurring gains and losses, a 19.04% year-on-year increase. This growth not only extends the positive trend from the previous year but also demonstrates Foton Motor’s strong competitiveness in the current market environment.
Foton Motor’s remarkable performance is the result of comprehensive efforts in technology accumulation, strategic layout, ecological chain collaboration, and customer insights.
Innovative Strategic Models, Simultaneous Efforts at Home and Abroad
Since the introduction of the Southern Development Strategy, Foton Motor has invested significantly in resources for Southern market organization, channel adjustments, financial policies, and research and development capabilities. This effort has led to an industrial layout covering “Guangdong + Changsha + Jingdezhen,” nurturing strategic suppliers, establishing strategic dealer systems, and achieving market performance with sales of 116,000 vehicles in 2023, a 54.1% year-on-year increase with a market share of 13.8%. In 2024, Foton Motor further optimized its Southern market channels, developed a combination model of “dealership + direct sales + agency,” revitalized channel vitality, strengthened lead management capabilities, activated fundamental customer bases, and enhanced lead conversion quality. Additionally, empowering dealers, improving terminal operation capabilities, promoting standardized terminal operations among dealers, establishing rapid response mechanisms for customer issues, and enhancing customer issue resolution capabilities.
Facing increasingly intense international competition, Foton Motor has accelerated its global market layout. In international cooperation, Foton Motor has created a localized industrial ecology through partnerships in “traditional energy + new energy, brand + technology, equity joint venture + technology cooperation, and supply chain synergy going global.” Moreover, deepening cooperation with countries and regions along the Belt and Road Initiative, servicing over 80 projects in more than 60 countries along the Belt and Road, Foton Motor has continuously innovated overseas strategic models in the new energy sector, launching a “global green logistics solution” to accelerate global logistics industry’s green transformation while serving global logistics users. With 18 global technology innovation research and development centers, Foton Motor supports business needs… This series of strategic layouts and model innovations overseas have enabled Foton Motor to achieve outstanding results in international markets.
Forward-Looking Technological Layout, Leading Industry Development Demands
In the fiercely competitive commercial vehicle market, companies are increasing strategic innovation efforts and investing more resources in technological research and development. Foton Motor, with its forward-looking vision and decisions, has maintained a leading position in the industry, leading in innovation.
Starting in 2017, Foton Motor began industrializing automatic transmissions. By 2019, Foton Auman led China’s heavy-duty trucks into the era of automatic transmissions and has remained the domestic leader in automatic heavy-duty truck sales for several years. By 2023, Foton Motor introduced a comprehensive automatic transmission technology and product solution covering 126 commercial vehicle application scenarios, providing customers with a more comfortable, safe, energy-efficient, reliable, and intelligent value experience.
“Foton Motor will saturate investment in the main track of new energy,” said Chairman Chang Rui earlier. Since 2003, Foton Motor has been laying out new energy technology research and development. Currently, Foton Motor has achieved a “pure electric + hybrid + hydrogen fuel” technological route, launching a diversified product portfolio of new energy transportation solutions based on the “oil-to-electricity/hydrogen + new platform.” At the end of 2023, Foton also unveiled the hybrid technology brand FHS, with a full range of hybrid products layout based on independently developed hybrid-specific engines, transmissions, and hybrid power systems. Similarly, in hydrogen energy, Foton Motor has been researching hydrogen fuel products since 2006, launching the first fuel cell passenger and truck announcements domestically, securing multiple domestic and global firsts, and initiating a new platform development in 2023.
Facing increasing market demand for pure electric, hybrid, intelligent products, differences in commercial vehicle markets between North and South China, continuous “internal competition” in new vehicle pricing, rapid internationalization, and the transformation of sales formats from offline to online, Foton Motor is accelerating its layout of new energy and intelligent technology, insisting on leading technological innovation, seizing market opportunities, actively promoting overseas market layouts, accelerating ecological and energy transformations, restructuring profit models, deepening digital transformation, and creating a green technology and market-leading international corporate image.
Serving the Full Lifecycle of Customers, Achieving the Best TCO for Users
Today, logistics industry customers face challenges in vehicle energy consumption, safe operation, used vehicle handling, and management costs. Foton Motor adheres to a “customer-centric” service philosophy, proposing integrated solutions for the entire lifecycle from purchasing, using, managing, maintaining, to replacing vehicles based on customer pain points and challenges, ensuring worry-free maintenance and peace of mind during vehicle use. Among these solutions, Foton eHome serves as an online touchpoint throughout the customer’s lifecycle, meeting various customer needs and providing excellent experiences, guaranteeing comprehensive vehicle use support throughout the customer’s lifecycle. Regarding vehicle use and management, Foton Motor offers insurance and safety management services through intelligent vehicle networking data, reducing the probability of accidents. Simultaneously, Foton Motor provides fleet management systems for enterprise users, helping fleets reduce operating costs and improve efficiency. For vehicle maintenance, services like “Kapuyoufu all-inclusive service” and “Kapuyoupei” provide customers with maintenance and spare parts solutions, ensuring cost control and quality assurance. Regarding vehicle replacement, Foton offers the “Second-hand car platform” and “Foton brand-certified second-hand car service,” providing customers with efficient, transparent, and secure vehicle disposal and purchase services.
In the midst of challenges, only those who brave the rapids can appreciate the grandeur of rivers and streams. After many years of growth and tempering, Foton Motor has positioned itself at the forefront of the commercial vehicle industry, becoming a solid force with hardcore innovative manufacturing capabilities. It is believed that Foton Motor will lead industry development with even more outstanding achievements, and its performance will be even more anticipated.
