Foton’s Auhawk R Crowned 2021 Chinese Truck of the Year Award

Foton’s Auhawk R has been elected Chinese Truck of the Year (CToY) 2021 during the 5th International Commercial Vehicle Exhibition in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province. The 10-day exhibition opened on 20 Nov 2020 with the participation of international CV manufacturers and CV parts suppliers. 

The accolade, announced by the president of CToY Jury Yu Jing, was handed to Gu Dehua, Vice President of Foton Motor.

Gianenrico Griffini, President of the International Truck Of the Year jury from Italy, and two jury members from South Africa and Germany also congratulated Foton Auhawk on the winning via video.

Photo — At the scene of the award (from left to right):

1. Ms. Yu Jing, the president of CToY Jury, Deputy General Manager of Beijing Prominion Publishing Co., LTD., President of Commercial Vehicle Magazine.

2. Ms. Yang Lin, Vice President of Auto Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the supporter of CToY.

3. Mr. Gu Dehua, Vice President of Foton Motor, President of Auhawk Division.

4. Mr. Yao Jie, Deputy secretary general of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Auhawk R — Designed for the new road regulations

As a new truck generation developed on a new platform, Auhawk R has made many improvements on the cab, power transmission, intelligence and lightweight, to keep up with China’s latest strict road regulations.

Since the introduction of toll-by-axle policy in January this year, China has abolished manual weighing of trucks and is charging tolls based on how many axles they have. The jury confirmed that Auhawk R could reduce TCO as these two-axle trucks’ Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) reach 18 tons.

Ms. Yu Jing, President of The Jury of China Truck Of the Year, announced the jury’s comments as follows: "Auhawk R medium-duty truck is a new generation of medium trucks developed by Foton Motor. The design integrated European standards with China’s new regulatory requirements and new market demands. With its beautiful appearance, optimized structure, intelligent, safe, comfortable and reliable first-class configuration, it provides us with excellent driving experience and sets a new benchmark for the Chinese truck market."

When the international award goes to China

The Chinese Truck of The Year (CToY) award was founded by Chinese Commercial Vehicle Magazine in 2015. The main task of the jury is to each year present the annual award to the truck launched in the previous 12 months which "makes the greatest contribution to the development of transport of goods by road in those countries involved in the election". 

On the basis of introducing the sophisticated experience of the European award -- International Truck of the Year (IToY, founded in 1977), CToY also combines the actual situation of road transportation in China and the development level of China’s CV products. The rules of CToY 2021 are as follows: "The truck must be released and put into production within 12 months. The truck must be made by a Chinese manufacturer. The Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) of the truck should be over 3.5 tons. The truck should make a substantial contribution to improving the efficiency and standards of China's road transport, especially in the area of TCO (total cost of ownership)."

At present, CToY has been successfully held for four years. Here are four winners in history: Auman EST (2017), JMC Weilong (2018), FAW J7 (2019) and Dongfeng KL (2020). In recent years, the winners have gained good market reputation in terms of technology upgrading, safety and environmental performance, operating efficiency, etc.

Surging truck sales under the global pandemic

Since 2020, despite the impact of the pandemic, the production and sales of China's CV/truck market have increased month by month after the resumption of work and production and are expected to reach a record high this year.

According to the latest authoritative statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the production and sales of commercial vehicles in the first 10 months of this year were about 4.2 million, with year-on-year growth of 22.5 percent and 20.9 percent respectively.

Among these, the sales volume of medium trucks increased by 40.79% year on year, which shows the strong market demand.

According to the analysis from industry insiders, here are two factors behind this phenomenon: the change of people's lifestyle in the post-COVID era has brought a sharp increase in the demand for consumer logistics; the government's support for all kinds of infrastructure investment projects related to the national economy and people's livelihood, which has produced a key positive effect on the growth of commercial vehicles, especially trucks, against the global recession.

With the growth of the truck market, Chinese truck manufacturers have continuously launched new trucks to keep up with the latest policies, regulations and consumer demand this year, leading to an increase in consumer logistics and infrastructure investment.

The boost of truck sales also provides consumers with a variety of brands and trucks to choose from. Therefore, when judging nominees for CToY 2021, the jury members not only consider the technical value of the trucks, but also pay attention to selecting the trucks with good quality and market application for consumers.