Mitsubishi Fuso Truck of America, Inc. (MFTA) celebrated its 25th anniversary on September 14th with a gathering at its Logan Township, NJ headquarters of employees, key members of the community, local and state government officials and its business partners, as well as representatives of its dealer council and executives from its parent, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. (MFTBC), based in Kawasaki, Japan.
MFTA first opened its doors here on September 10, 1985. In 1986, the company sold 89 trucks and enlisted 41 new dealers. Four years later, with strong growth already established, MFTA introduced the industry's first 4WD drive cabover, which the OEM said remains the only factory-manufactured cabover 4x4 in North America. In 1993, with sales continuing to grow, the company constructed a $2 million parts warehouse facility in New Jersey to serve its growing dealer and fleet customers, and in 1999, it expanded into Canada.
By 2001, MFTA had sold 60,000 trucks across the U.S. and Canada. A year later, the company unveiled the FE Crew Cab, with the capacity to seat seven comfortably. The year 2004 saw a new line of FE and FG model (Class 3-5) medium-duty cabovers, “redesigned from the ground up to provide unsurpassed reliability and vastly improved operator comfort and efficiency,” noted MFTA.
In 2005, Mitsubishi Fuso said it became the first medium-duty truck manufacturer to supplement its 3-year/unlimited-mileage bumper-to-bumper warranty with a 5-year/175,000-mile (FE/FG models) or 5-year/250,000-mile (FK/FM models) powertrain limited warranty.
In 2007, the company introduced redesigned FK and FM models, and in 2009, expanded its operations once again — this time into Puerto Rico. The same year, MFTA signed its 200th dealer, and celebrated 10 years of sales growth in Canada. Finally, in early 2010, as it approached its 25th anniversary, Mitsubishi Fuso delivered its 100,000th truck in North America.
“We and our parent company remain committed to the North American marketplace,” said MFTA president & CEO Todd Bloom at the event. “Plans are being developed now for the introduction of exciting next-generation products, and we continue to build a dealer network that takes great care of our customers. The future of MFTA here in North America is indeed bright.”
