Our first experience of a new approach from Fuso is the latest update to the Canter light-duty range of trucks. These were unveiled and explained by the new team in Geelong Victoria, where Diesel News got a chance to drive the latest trucks and talk to the new team.
First up, it is important to point out the mechanical specification of the Canter range is largely untouched, with the one caveat being the Duonic automated manual transmission now has a hill-hold function plus standard cruise control.
Fuso realised there had to be some cosmetic changes, but they are minimal and hard to pick from the casual observer’s point of view. Fuso’s styling team has come up with, what it calls a ‘subtle lift’ – a silver-painted top grille louvre.
Step inside the new model and there is a more distinctive change, with the dashboard and seat trim going darker. The dashboard and door panels are now black and grey, then there are small things like silver-painted highlights on the gear-lever surround and a steering wheel–mounted badge. Seat trims are now black instead of blue and use extra padding, plus there is now a new driver and passenger seat with black trim.
There is also now a ceiling-mounted LED lamp, a sun-visor pocket and a new floor tray, plus changes to the storage compartment integrated into the middle seat back. The driver can access the hidden compartment by releasing a catch and folding down the padded front section.
New Soft Products
Fuso are keen to point out that all of the ancillary services offered to anyone buying a truck are all handled in house by Daimler Trucks. Things like warranty, servicing and finance are all under the same umbrella.
The first and most obvious change comes with a substantial drop in a lot of spare parts prices. High turnover items like oil filters, air filter elements, fuel filters, alternators and starter motors have been reduced by between 32 per cent and 61 per cent, according to the Fuso team.
“The parts price cuts have been applied to more than 10,000 items including the most common consumable parts our customers need,” says Justin. “These are substantial savings that make the business case for choosing a Fuso truck or bus even stronger.”
A reappraisal of the servicing strategy offered to truck customers means Fuso has lengthened the service intervals of some key components, while ensuring they remain within durability parameters.
Truck warranty has been extended to five years and is said by Fuso to cover most components on a truck, except for tyres, consumables, accidental damage, wear-and-tear items, non factory-supplied accessories and non-approved aftermarket modifications.
In more detail, the warranty covers five years or 500,000km or 10,000 operating hours for the heavier end of the truck market – the FP, FV and FS models, and five years, 350,000km or 7,000 operating hours for the medium-duty FM and FN Fighter models. The FK Fighter is covered for five years or 300,000km or 6,000 operating hours, while the Canter light-duty truck and Rosa bus are covered for five years, 200,000km or 4,000 operating hours.