The Mitsubishi Fuso Canter was Mitsubishis line of light duty trucks were introduced into the United States in the late 1980’s. Although the Canter was sold in the United States, they were primarily offered to the Japanese and some other Asian countries. Mitsubishi began manufacturing the Canter line in 1962, with most of the produced vehicles going to the Asian markets. The Middle East, U.S., and Europe also imported the Mitsubishi Canter until the early 1970’s. The name ‘Fuso’ means ‘hibiscus’ when translated. This was the first name chosen when Mitsubishi started to manufacture their first products way back in 1932.
The original Canter proved to be a very expensive vehicle and was replaced by the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck in the 1980’s. The previously mentioned Fuso was offered through out a large part of the world. Another very important market for the Canter was in Australia. In fact Mitsubishi thought that it was such a valuable market that they began to manufacture the Canter there in the 1970’s. Although the Canter can found at some second hand car dealers, they are not that sought after today because they were fairly pricey, and the repair costs are substantially higher then other varieties found today.
Mitsubishi focused on making the newer Canter as safe as possible in late 2005. These concerns were heightened with all the new safety regulations that needed to be adhered to when exporting to other countries. An exciting hybrid version of the Canter also became available in 2005 called the Canter Eco Hybrid. The sad part about their new hybrid truck was the fact that they only offered in the Japanese market place.
The Canter hybrid is a combination of a diesel-electric in the commercial truck line. This hybrid is produced in Mitsubishis plant in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, and as previously stated, they are only available in the Japanese market place. The reason this hybrid has become a very sought after vehicle is due to the fact that it combines a clean burning diesel engine with an electric motor that uses the lithium-ion battery. These batteries have twice the capacity of the older versions of the original batteries that were used. This produces a commercial truck that can get up to 30% better fuel efficiency for all driving situations, and also releases less harmful emissions into the atmosphere then a standard diesel engine.
This turbocharged diesel engine produced a respectable 123 horsepower, and combined with Mitsubishis electric motor which spit out about 47 horsepower.
Mitsubishi started to produce the Canter in Portugal in 1980. The factory there was able to manufacture around 15,000 units per year, and have rolled more then 110,000 vehicles as of 2004. They kept up very high quality standards which have made the Canter become more readily available in the second hand car market. They ran each one through a rigorous testing program to ensure that all the safety and design features lived up to the quality set forth by Mitsubishi.
Oddly enough, the Mitsubishi Truck and Bus corporation is a German owned company that has its manufacturing based in Japan. It’s main headquarters being in Kanagawa, Japan. The German company, DaimlerChrysler owns about 85% of what has become the worlds largest truck maker.
With the cost of production of new vehicles continuing to rise, a lot of companies are looking into the used car or second hand cars as an viable option. Mitsubishi has become a world leader in car and truck design, so they are a very trusted source. And because they have such a good reputation with the over all quality of their vehicles, purchasing a second model of any of their cars, trucks, SUV, or vans have proven to be a very easy decision to make.