Visitors to the 2025 Brisbane Truck Show got their first look at a new player in the Australian market, with the launch of the DFAC brand of light and medium-duty trucks.
Bill Gillespie, General Manager – Foton EV and DFAC – Light Duty Trucks, told Fleet News Group that the launch was the culmination of a fast-tracked effort after signing the agreement with DFAC in China earlier this year.
“We rushed that to market. We wanted to make sure we launched at the Truck Show. We signed the agreement in February with DFAC in China, and so we were pretty keen to get a truck, even though it was very much a pre-production truck. We got that truck to market at the Truck Show,” said Gillespie.
Positive early feedback
The DFAC stand generated strong early interest, particularly around the driveline specifications and the familiar styling of the truck.
“I think early days, but the feedback on the look of the truck and the way it’s designed — I think there was really good positive feedback on the Cummins Euro 6 engine. People were pretty happy about that, having a Euro 6 engine and also Dana axles,” Gillespie explained.
He added: “I think their view was, it looks very much like a Japanese truck — very sort of square shape. That’s the narrow-body 4.5-tonne truck, 6-tonne truck.”
DFAC’s range is already expanding. “We’re bringing a 9.5-tonne wide-bodied truck to market — it will probably land in the market now Q1, like January, early February launch next year. And that’s a 9.5-tonne truck with a 4.5-litre Cummins Euro 6 engine — really strong engine, 850 Newton metres of torque. So, you know, really, really grunty sort of engine for Australia,” he said.
Building a credible new brand
Gillespie acknowledged that building trust with Australian fleet buyers and operators is crucial for a new brand.
“We all know that it’s an unknown brand in Australia, and it needs all the credibility that a new brand can get. So in the truck world, as you know, saying it’s got a Cummins Euro 6 engine makes a lot of difference to people. They really think, well, that adds credibility to it.”
The launch was supported by an initial dealer network announcement. “We also had a dealer meeting the day before, so we’re just starting to flesh out the dealer network now, and we’ll be able to announce some — I think we’ll make some announcements in early July on the dealers that we’ve signed for the brand. And some are really surprising head dealers to take on the brand. And I think it’s going to be very exciting for people to see the sort of dealer groups that are going to represent the brand.”
Competitive safety specification
With the market placing growing emphasis on safety, Gillespie confirmed that DFAC will be well equipped from launch.
“Well, those trucks have got all of the standard safety features that the market requires. And on top of that, it does have cyclist and pedestrian detection — some of the brands don’t have that at the moment. So we wanted to make sure it was equipped to the highest level it could be at this point.”
Gillespie added that DFAC is taking a proactive approach to future improvements: “We’ve also shared the AFMA, the ANCAP report with the factory and said there are some of the gaps, and we’re going to make sure that over the next couple of years we’ll close down, as we go, close down some of those gaps.”
The right model for market entry
As with other recent entrants, DFAC is launching in Australia via an independent distributor model, rather than through a direct factory-backed operation.
“I think it’s still a way into the market. I think in the truck world, if you look at ourselves and JAC and people like that, it’s still probably the best to launch with an independent distributor. I think if you don’t — imagine China’s going to just put their own office into Australia for a truck brand, until you get to some critical scale. I think if you get over a certain amount of units per month, they may be interested in being the factory. But at this point, there’s no talk about that. They’re very happy to let private distributors around the world represent them in different markets.”
A broader strategy for the market
The DFAC brand adds another string to the bow of Gillespie’s current focus on both zero-emission and diesel light-duty trucks.
On the electric truck front, Gillespie acknowledged that the Australian market remains challenging. “We still see the market as being pretty immature… it’s still quite a challenge to get Australian companies to make any major changes to the way they operate their fleet.”
He said a stronger signal from government could help drive EV truck adoption. “What we would be asking for is allowing companies to accelerate the write-off — the depreciation. So accelerated depreciation — if you can buy the truck, you can write it off in two years or three years versus a normal write-off. That gives people significant tax benefits… What it signals to the market is we care about this idea about lowering emissions and we’re prepared to put some support behind it.”
What’s next
With an expanded DFAC range landing in 2025 and a formal dealer network announcement due in July, Gillespie is confident that DFAC will find a receptive audience in Australia.
“I think the feedback on both of those ideas was strong,” he said of the narrow-body and upcoming wide-body models.
For fleet buyers, the combination of a Cummins Euro 6 engine, Dana axles, strong safety specification and proven distributor experience makes DFAC one to watch.
