Foton Philippines is looking to grow its passenger car lineup with the introduction of the all-new Thunder. The Chinese marque showcased the new midsize pickup truck at the 2022 Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) with a new rugged design that now looks at par with its mainstream rivals in the local market.
All-new Foton Thunder
Exterior-wise, the all-new Foton Thunder is designed with a more muscular finish from the front to the back. Chrome trims chief the front end which can be found on the FOTON wordmark on the grille and across the lower bumper. It is contrasted by black trims on the grille surround.
To the sides, the pickup truck gets a set of 18-inch wheels with disc brakes up front and drum brakes at the rear. As for the rear end, the tailgate is also embedded with the FOTON wordmark, along with restyled taillights by its sides.
It comes with a more muscular design
The interior of the all-new version looks way more modern as compared to the outgoing Foton Thunder. It comes with leather seats, a revamped steering, a revised dashboard, and a floating-type 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen. Additionally, the dashboard is finished with a full-width chrome strip and carbon fiber-like trim.
In the safety department, the Foton truck is equipped with six airbags, an anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), traction control, Electronic Stability Program (ESP), hill descent control, and hill hold control.
A beefier workhorse vehicle from Foton
Under the hood, our previous report appeared to be true as the new model now uses a smaller 2.0-liter AUCAN turbodiesel engine good for 161 horsepower and 390 Nm of torque. It does make 25 Nm more torque as compared to the outgoing 2.8-liter mill. A 6-speed manual transmission is connected to the engine.
No official pricing has been disclosed by Foton Philippines just yet. But interested individuals could be looking at a starting price of around P1.1-million for the Thunder 4x2 with the manual gearbox. An automatic gearbox and 4x4 drivetrain will be unveiled soon.
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