Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC; headquarters: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture; President and CEO: Hartmut Schick), announces the introduction of the new Euro VI medium-duty Fighter truck in Australia. With this introduction, all truck segments in the FUSO lineup will be available in Australia with Euro VI emissions technology or above, and with advanced emergency braking features. FUSO is also expanding its heavy-duty range with a new six-wheeler Shogun model.
The medium-duty Fighter for Australia is available in variants ranging from GVWs of 11 to 24 tons, as well as various wheelbases and drivetrain configurations. Customers will also be able to select from manual or automatic transmission. Importantly, the vehicle has been upgraded with the latest safety features, including the Advanced Emergency Braking System (AEBS), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), and Electronic Stability Program (ESP®). Sideguard Assist, which warns drivers of pedestrians or objects in the left blind spot, is also installed on applicable models. This technology upgrade for the Fighter makes FUSO the only commercial vehicle brand in Australia to offer advanced emergency braking assistance technology in light, medium, and heavy-duty truck segments.
MFTBC is also expanding its offerings in the rigid heavy-duty range. 6×2 and 6×4 configurations of the Shogun will now be available with a 360hp OM936 7.7 liter engine. Created specifically for the Australian market, particularly customers in the 14-pallet distribution segment, this new addition to the Shogun family comes standard with safety features such as Active Brake Assist 4 (ABA®4), LDWS, ESP®, as well as Active Attention Assist, which uses facial recognition cameras to alert drivers to indications of fatigue. Both the Fighter and the new Shogun models were displayed recently at the Brisbane Truck Show.
AEBS, which automatically activates the brakes of a truck to help prevent or mitigate the impact of collisions, was introduced into the local Canter through a safety update in 2019. An upgrade for the light-duty Rosa bus soon followed in 2020; both instances were market-firsts for their respective segments in Australia. The heavy-duty Shogun truck launched in 2019 also came with a standard installation of ABA®4, which provides another layer of safety support by detecting pedestrians and objects smaller than vehicles. The Shogun, Fighter, Canter and Rosa are shipped as BU vehicles from MFTBC and distributed by Daimler Truck and Bus Australia (DTBA; headquarters: Victoria, Australia; President and CEO: Daniel Whitehead). The installation of advanced safety features in the FUSO lineup comes as the Australian government outlines its commitment to its “Vision Zero,” the goal of reducing road fatalities and serious injuries to zero by the year 2050. By providing reliable trucks and buses with the latest driving assistance technology, MFTBC will continue to support safety on the road in Australia and all regions of the world.
