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Home | Green Cars News | Hybrids | Mitsubishi Begins Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Exports

Mitsubishi Begins Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid Exports

15 October, 2009 01:42:00

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Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC) has sold ten hybrid trucks to an Irish company.

The Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid is the first series-production hybrid truck to be sold in Europe. The customer is Ireland’s leading utility company, the Electricity Supply Board (ESB) in Dublin.

ESB plans to use the vehicles for customer service and for infrastructure maintenance in Ireland. The Irish Government has granted a special permit for the Japanese hybrid trucks.

With the order from Ireland and another order from Australia, also for ten Fuso Canter Eco Hybrids, MFTBC is for the first time delivering a Fuso hybrid truck to customers outside of Japan. MFTBC is planning to expand its hybrid trucks business into targeted export markets starting in 2010.

MFTBC has been marketing the Fuso Canter hybrid truck on its home market since its market launch in July 2006. More than 600 Fuso Canter Eco Hybrid trucks have been sold in Japan to date. The Canter Eco Hybrid light truck features a parallel hybrid system and significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions.

While the Fuso hybrid trucks are currently showing what they can do in a fleet test in the United Kingdom, the new orders from Ireland and Australia represent the first orders from customers outside of Japan. The truck will be used not only by energy utilities, but also in other sectors including parcel and freight delivery and the food and beverages industry.

MFTBC’s involvement in hybrid development is part of Daimler’s Shaping Future Transportation initiative, which aims to achieve a major reduction in fuel consumption and exhaust emissions of commercial vehicles. Shaping Future Transportation comprises work on alternative drive systems for various commercial vehicle brands. Hybrid technology plays a key role in these vehicles, as it can reduce diesel consumption by up to 30 percent, depending on the application.

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