Today, Fuso manufactures a full range of commercial vehicles including light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks and buses and industrial engines for over 170 markets worldwide.
Photo: Mitsubishi Fuso
2 min to read
Daimler Truck’s Asian subsidiary Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation celebrates the 90th anniversary of the Fuso brand. The origin of the iconic Fuso name dates back to May 1932, when Mitsubishi's first bus, the "B46 type shared car," manufactured at the Kobe Shipyard of the former Mitsubishi Shipbuilding, was branded Fuso.
The original name was suggested by an engineer at the shipyard. It originally refers to a large sacred tree and is now used as a name for the hibiscus flower. The 7-meter, 38-seater bus was equipped with a 7.0L, 6-cylinder, 100-horsepower gasoline engine. In commemoration of the first delivery of the B46 type bus to the Ministry of Railways, Fuso was selected from among the internal proposals for its nickname.
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Karl Deppen, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation and Head of Daimler Truck Asia commented: “As we celebrate 90 years of Fuso, we would like to thank our customers, employees and partners for their loyalty and support. This anniversary signifies our stakeholders’ ongoing faith in our products, technologies, and services. As the automobile sector strives for decarbonization, we at MFTBC are part of the solution. We showed this commitment with our original all-electric eCanter in 2017 and our next generation model will provide e-mobilty solutions to an even broader range of customers.”
Following the first vehicle, the nickname Fuso continued to be used thereafter for major products such as the gasoline engine 4-ton truck KT1 (1946), Japan's first large cab-over truck T380, and Japan's first minibus, the Rosa (1960). In line with Japan's high economic growth in 1950s – 70s, the product lineup soon included a full range from small to large trucks and buses, playing an important part in economic development. MFTBC, the manufacturer of the FUSO branded commercial vehicles, was born when Mitsubishi Motors Corporation separated its commercial vehicle division from the passenger car business back in 2003, to become a part of the former Daimler Chrysler company. In 2004, MFTBC joined Daimler Chrysler’s Commercial Vehicles segment.
The origin of the Fuso name dates back to May 1932 was branded Fuso.
Photo: Mitsubishi Fuso
Today, Fuso manufactures a full range of commercial vehicles including light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks and buses and industrial engines for more than 170 markets worldwide. In 2021, Fuso strongly contributed to Daimler Truck’s sales increase with overall unit sales of more than 125,000 units, representing over a quarter of the group’s global unit sales..
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