He was previously Asia-Pacific president of Sea Electric and before that, vice president of brand and franchise development at Hino Motor Sales, a post he held for more than seven years.

Mr Gillespie has also been an executive with the Australian distributors of brands including Peugeot, Nissan, Kia, Toyota and Daihatsu.

Foton Mobility is the first electric-truck importer to establish a national dealership network in Australia. It is now planning to expand that network, including parts and service support, and has named new locations as Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast and regional Victoria and NSW.

It recently displayed at the Brisbane truck show its 4.5-tonne GVM T5 electric truck cab chassis that will sell for about $135,000.

Foton is also introducing an electric van to sell for about $100,000 and rival the LDV eDeliver 9 and Ford E-Transit.

The company is also planning to import hydrogen fuel-cell trucks and buses.

China makes about 80 per cent of new-energy vehicle (NEV) trucks that are sold around the world. Foton has a 52 per cent of the Chinese NEV market and is planning to sell 150,000 NEVs in 2025.

Bill Gillespie

By Neil Dowling