Published May 23, 2012
By Philippe Crowe
Daimler’s Japanese commercial vehicle subsidiary, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC), has started selling its Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid truck in Japan.
The light duty truck, which celebrated its world premiere at the Tokyo Motor Show in November 2011, will also be introduced by Fuso in Europe and other international markets in the third quarter of this year.
For Fuso this represents a consistent advancement on its way to take a leading role in the field of green innovation. The predecessor model of today’s Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid was launched back in 2006. A total of 1,200 units of the right-hand drive hybrid vehicle have been sold in markets like Japan, Australia, Ireland, and Hong Kong. The positive response it received on the markets led to the decision to offer the second-generation model in both a right- and left-hand drive version.
The new hybrid truck’s nitrogen oxide and particulate emissions are 30 percent lower than the limits set by Japan’s current emission standard (JP09), which has been in effect since 2010. When compared to the current Fuso Canter with a conventional diesel engine, the hybrid version uses more than 25 percent less fuel during a Japanese driving cycle.
The Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid is also the world’s first commercial vehicle that combines a DUONIC dual-clutch transmission with a hybrid engine. As a result, the vehicle boasts high fuel efficiency, while also combining the comfort of an automatic transmission with the economy of a stick-shift.
This hybrid truck is the latest innovation to come out of the Global Hybrid Center (GHC) in Kawasaki, Japan. The GHC, which serves as Daimler Trucks’ global center of competence for the development of hybrid vehicles, manages and synchronizes the hybrid related activities of all truck brands within the Daimler Group.
