Fuso’s timing may be perfect: the new Canter models are arriving while the biggest buyers still have their wallets open.
While the truck market in general is still struggling to recover from the global financial crisis, the light-duty segment is showing genuine signs of growth. Many buyers in the class are institutional; local and state governments, largely immune from market forces.
What’s more, Fuso has made significant improvements to the range’s occupant safety — a sure-fire way to attract government attention to your product in a climate rife with occupational health and safety concerns.
The upgraded model is an amalgam of Japanese, American and European specifications that creates a uniquely Australian product.
While the basic design is straight out of Japan, the new version uses the high-power North American engine specifications with an additional transmission cooler fitted for local conditions fitted to an all-Aussie body (the US market does not use the crew-cab configuration).
Fuso Product Planner Kevin Johnston says the Japanese head office allows Australia to “have a say” in product development needs.
While the engine is currently the US-spec, Johnston says Australia will eventually receive the European version, which retains the power rating but adds selective catalytic reduction (SCR) emissions technology — soon, “but not yet”.
The biggest improvement is in the driveline, with the Japanese manufacturer now offering an Aisin automatic-transmission across the whole Canter range.
Taking full advantage of the self-shifter’s ability to handle full throttle gear changes, Fuso increased the Canter’s power and torque ratings to the high output US-spec 130kW and 530Nm (176hp and 391lb-ft) respectively. With the majority of driver recruits only having experience in automatic cars it makes sense to offer them an automatic truck, Johnston says.
“It is a full automatic, not an automated manual, so we feel it is a good step up from a car for inexperienced drivers,” he says.
Already numerous trucks are pre-sold in a tremendous launch period for Fuso, with many of those going into rental fleets with a 4.49-tonne GVM — the perfect introductory vehicle for would-be truckies.
“The gearbox is the same as used in the Hino light range and our own Rosa bus, however we have our own programming to suit the needs of the Canter driver,” Johnston says.
Despite the upgrade, Johnston says Fuso was determined to keep the ‘walk-through’ cab design that has made it popular with customers. It means the auto controller remains mounted on the dash, allowing a third seatbelt to be fitted.
LOCK IT IN
Although the auto is a six-speed unit, Johnston says the transmission can be locked in second, third or fourth for hill descents, allowing the gearbox and the exhaust brake to work in tandem. The transmission will still up-shift to protect itself from over-speeding.
To lock the transmission in either second or third gears, the selector is moved into the appropriate position on display, while fourth gear is locked by switching off the overdrive, cancelling fifth and sixth gears.
Once it is switched on, via a stalk on the steering column, the exhaust brake automatically cuts in every time the driver releases the accelerator, helping to reduce brake wear while at the same time reducing the brake distance.
During a brief familiarisation drive near Fuso headquarters in Sydney, the exhaust brake repeatedly cut the speed from 70km/h to 40km/h without driver intervention, perfect for driving in heavy traffic, with the operator then applying the wheel brakes to bring the truck to a stop.
In a single test, the exhaust brake lost its efficiency once the road speed dropped to 30km/h. The gearbox is programmed to hold the highest gear possible, effectively cancelling out the braking effect and requiring the driver to use the brake pedal.
With front and rear discs now also standard, along with ABS, this task is simple to accomplish. A squeeze of the brake pedal generates plenty of bite.
Fitting the disc brakes brings Fuso into line with main competitor Hino. Isuzu has chosen to stick with a disc/drum set-up, albeit a very efficient one, on its N-Series truck, with Fuso, on the Canter range, the first to fit twin brake callipers.
Fuso has retained the different voltages for the under and over 8.2-tonne models, with the lighter versions retaining 12-volt power, jumping to 24-volt in the heavier GVM trucks.
Johnston says occupant safety was scrutinised during the planning phase, with the Canter now the only light-duty truck to offer standard driver and passenger airbags across the entire 4x2 range. This eclipses the Hino and Isuzu offerings.
“After consultation with the main buyers of our 4x4 product, and our own research, the decision was made to delete occupant airbags from the off-road version,” he says.
The research found that in fire-fighting applications there was a chance the airbags could deploy if the truck was caught in a situation where fire ‘jumped’ over it, with the risk of blowing out windows and allowing flames to enter the cabin.
“Also,” Johnson explains, “the airbags are designed to go off if the truck has a hard jolt low on the chassis, which is consistent with hitting a tree stump, dropping into a ditch or nose-diving, all things that can happen in rough terrain. So it was better to take them out of the truck rather than trying to disable the airbags.”
Fuso has decided not to pursue the mining sector with the vehicle, which requires airbags for occupational health and safety, but Johnson reveals the company is developing a “mine spec” version.
While plenty of work has gone into the automatic version, manual buyers have not been forgotten. A hill start system has been added on the 4x2 versions. Although the tests were carried out using a cab-chassis version due to the level of pre-orders, it was clear the new system will be useful to the majority of operators.
The system is enabled via a dash-mounted rocker switch, with the truck automatically holding the brakes after the driver releases the pedal, allowing time for the clutch and accelerator to be balanced before the brakes release.
While the initial release time is quite short, causing wheel spin as the clutch was let out, there is a second switch to adjust the time delay which allowed for much smoother take-offs.
The system worked well on both first and second-gear starts, to simulate partially laden and heavily laden scenarios, as well as moving up and down.
As a party trick, Johnston suggested trying to reverse up the slope — a requirement many local operators are faced with. To the surprise of many, the Canter system coped admirably, and should prove popular with operators working a variety of urban terrain, such as sloping driveways.
With the hill start system working so well, Johnston says a safeguard was built into the system to prevent operators using it instead of the handbrake.
“If the Hill Start is engaged and the driver’s door is opened a buzzer sounds quite loudly, and it can only be switched off by applying the handbrake and restarting the truck,” he says. “It certainly gets your attention.”
As well as easing the burden on the driver, the hill start system also gives mechanical benefits: it eliminates over-revs and the need for drivers to ‘feather’ the clutch.
While the test was too short, and my co-driver too nervous, for any serious testing (e.g. getting the truck up on two wheels), Johnston says the standard front and rear sway bars provide plenty of support and stability. It certainly felt composed even along a horribly pockmarked stretch of Parramatta Road in Sydney.
Looks and brains
While the biggest changes were under the skin, Johnston is also proud of what he describes as cosmetic enhancements which he feels add to the overall driving experience.
Chief among these is replacing the previous glass lens in the headlight with a new resin unit; it is stronger and gives better impact resistance. And the rear wall of the cab is now electro-coated (previously it was just painted and then top-coated), improving the appearance and longevity.
Other detail touches inside the cab include an A4-sized pocket on the seat back and a low-fuel warning light added to the fuel gauge to remind drivers it is time to refill the tank.
While plenty of effort has gone into upgrading the Canter, Fuso has not ignored the rest of its range. The Canter’s heavy-duty cousins have also undergone a subtle makeover.
After introducing transom windows into the passenger doors of the Fighter range, all heavy trucks now sport the toughened-glass panels, which help driver vision in restricted space and vision operations by reducing blind spots.
Possibly the biggest news for intra-urban operators is the upgrading of the FP-R 4x2 prime mover to 40-tonne B-Double status, with a 10-speed synchro transmission, ADR-compliant sleeper and 306kW (414hp) plus an engine brake rather than the more common exhaust brake.
Johnston acknowledges the FP-R is a niche truck, with most operators likely to come from the volume market such as toilet rolls or bubble wrap, however he believes
the model will soon find its place in the market.
There is no front underrun protection system (FUPS) — it is exempt from current legislation as it only has 6-tonne front axles rather than the 6.5-tonne units which require FUPS — but the unit is now offered with ABS and anti-skid (ASR).
So, is the closer connection between Fuso and other Daimler brands like Mercedes-Benz likely to lead to more European technology appearing in the Japanese trucks? Johnston talks of closer engineering “communication”, but doesn’t expect to see widespread ‘plug and play’ component sharing.
Either way, the new Fuso line-up improves products already setting the market pace.
Fuso Canter
Automatic-transmission
130kW/530Nm (176hp/391ft-lb) USA-spec engine
Extra transmission oil cooler
Front and rear disc brakes
Driver and passenger airbag standard
Manual 4x2 gets hill start system
Heavy-Duty Range
Standard transom window
Engine brake as standard
ADR Sleeper on B-double FP-R
ABS and ASR