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Foton will bring a diesel mild-hybrid pick-up to Britain in early 2027
The Chinese commercial vehicle maker is entering the UK through International Motors with the Tunland double cab. Prices and specification are still to come.
Another Chinese brand has confirmed a UK launch, and this one is not electric. Foton will sell the Tunland double cab pick-up in Britain from early 2027 through the distributor International Motors, which already handles the brand's electric van range, according to AM Online's report.
What is confirmed is the vehicle, the distributor and the rough timing. What is not confirmed is the price, the final specification, the sales and aftersales network, the payload, the towing capacity, and the fuel consumption and emissions figures. That is a long list, and it is the honest state of the announcement.
The powertrain is the interesting part
The Tunland uses a 2.0 litre turbocharged diesel engine paired with a 48 volt mild-hybrid system and an eight speed automatic gearbox. A mild hybrid of that kind cannot drive on electricity alone: the motor assists the engine, smooths the stop-start cycle and recovers energy under braking, and the fuel saving is real but modest.
That makes the Tunland a different proposition from most of the new Chinese arrivals in Britain, which have been electric. It also puts Foton into the pick-up market at a moment when that market has been reshaped by tax rather than by product. The 2024 Budget removed the favourable benefit-in-kind treatment that double cab pick-ups had enjoyed, and the sector has been adjusting since, a theme we covered in our piece on Chinese brands arriving here.
What the truck is
The Tunland is a five-seat double cab with a load bed, aimed at both business users and private buyers, and Foton is pitching the comfort side harder than the work side. The specification announced so far includes a multi-link rear suspension designed to improve ride quality when the vehicle is unladen, a central touchscreen, a digital instrument display, automatic climate control, wireless phone charging, driver assistance systems and an opening panoramic roof.
Multi-link rear suspension is worth noting, because leaf springs are the usual choice in this class, picked for load carrying rather than comfort. A multi-link arrangement usually trades some payload for a better ride, which is consistent with a vehicle being sold to people who will use it as a family car for most of the year.
"The Foton Tunland represents our ambition to offer UK buyers a compelling alternative in the pick-up market, combining strikingly bold looks and the practical qualities they need with the comfort, technology and design they increasingly expect from their vehicles," said David Clark, brand manager at Foton UK.
Who Foton is
Foton is headquartered in Beijing, was founded 30 years ago and manufactures commercial vehicles from pick-ups and vans to trucks and buses. The company says it has sold more than 13 million vehicles since it was founded, and it already sells electric trucks, vans and buses in European markets including Italy, Germany and Malta.
The UK entry runs through International Motors, which is also preparing to launch the Cavan C1 line of electric vans, shown at this year's Commercial Vehicle Show in three sizes. That combination, an electric van range and a diesel pick-up, is a familiar pattern for Chinese commercial vehicle brands entering Europe: electric product to meet fleet emissions targets, combustion product where the duty cycle still favours it.
Why pick-ups are a hard market to enter
The UK pick-up market is small, and its tax treatment changed recently. Double cab pick-ups were reclassified as cars for benefit-in-kind purposes from April 2025, which removed the advantage that made them attractive as company vehicles for people who wanted a vehicle that could do both jobs. The market has been adjusting since.
For a new entrant, that is both an obstacle and an opening. Established players have priced for the old market and are carrying the cost of the change, and a new brand with no legacy volumes can position on price when it finally announces one. Foton has not done that yet, and without a price there is no way to judge whether the Tunland undercuts a Ford Ranger or a Toyota Hilux, or sits alongside them.
The other unknown is the network. A pick-up sold to business users needs service coverage in the places those vehicles work, and International Motors has not announced where the Foton sites will be. Until it does, the launch is a product announcement rather than a market entry.
That gap is where most new commercial vehicle brands come unstuck in Britain. Van and pick-up buyers judge a brand by how quickly a broken vehicle is back at work, and a distributor model puts that responsibility on a partner with an existing dealer base rather than a manufacturer building its own sites. International Motors is not new to this: it has run importer operations for other brands, and the Foton deal pairs the pick-up with the Cavan C1 electric vans, which gives a dealer a second product to sell from the same premises.
The Foton name is also older than the trend it now belongs to. The company was founded 30 years ago and has built commercial vehicles of every size since, from pick-ups to buses, and its European presence has been in electric trucks and vans rather than cars. A diesel pick-up is a return to its core business rather than a departure, which is a different proposition from a passenger car brand stretching into a new segment.
Our coverage of the Omoda 4's UK plans shows how the other Chinese brands have handled the same sequence, and the tariff question sets out why the commercial case for importing into Britain has been shifting.