Looking at the light duty segment of the Australian truck market, it is dominated by three Japanese truck brands.
Light duty trucks sold by that trio represented, in 2024, between 75 and 85 per cent of the Australian market depending on how you classify a light duty truck. In fact, those three brands also represent 43.5 percent of the total truck market, at all masses.
This is the highly competitive market into which Fuso have released the latest iteration of the iconic Canter. Listing all of the many and varied great things which are included in the specifications of the new Fuso Canter would match those of its two main competitors.
Fuso has introduced the latest face-lifted Canter range, which includes all of the items which are required by the modern truck buyer. In fact, it is not that easy to see what has changed about the new truck at first glance, apart from the exterior look and finish.
Familiar strengths of the Canter, including the lower tare weight when compared to the competition, still apply. The longer service intervals also continue to be in place.
Once the driver is sitting in the driving seat, changes probably become a little more obvious, with the latest state of the art multimedia unit in the dashboard. This, along with the dashboard directly in front of the driver, is the interface with all of the electronic smarts which come along with a truck in 2025.
The changes to the exterior were previewed on the eCanter with a design which sees a curved name panel above the actual redesigned front grille. On the Canter the panel is black and on the eCanter, it’s an electric blue, of course.
There’s a small black panel in the middle of the front bumper which protects the forward facing radar, vital to the included safety systems. Apart from these changes to the front panels, the rest of the outside of the cabin will be easily recognised by anyone familiar with the Canter.
The headlights on the new truck have had an upgrade, with the new LED headlights, which are reckoned to be 30 per cent brighter than those in the previous Canter. There are also LED turn lamps at the bottom of the cabin doors.
Out on the road
From the driver’s seat, it’s clearly a Canter and the driver’s door closes with a familiar clunk. Looking around inside the cabin, the larger (eight inch) screen multimedia unit is the most obvious development.
The controls are familiar and it is good to see that this Japanese truck maker has left behind the clunky displays designed to be placed directly in front of the driver, still common until the recent past. They have finally made it into the modern world.
In fact, Fuso is ahead of some of its close competitors in having wireless connection with Apple and Android phones as standard on the latest model.
All of the latest technology required, as we move into the Euro 6 era, is on display in this cabin. An Advanced Emergency Braking System, or AEBS, has been available in the Canter since 2019 and is now available, as standard on every new Canter, alongside Lane Departure Warning (LDW), apart from on 4×4 models. There’s also the electronic stability program to keep the truck’s feet on the ground.
Article with thanks to Tim Giles at Power Torque