01
Origins
The Gratour im6 of 2017 moved Foton's MPV line toward respectability: smoother styling, improved cabin and equipment aimed at private buyers rather than purely commercial ones, as the Gratour family stretched to bracket the segment. Against dedicated passenger brands the badge remained a stretch; against the value competition it held its corner. The im6's role was incremental — Foton learning passenger polish while its trucks funded the education. The company's later focus consolidated back toward commercial dominance and new-energy trucks, leaving the Gratour era as its fullest consumer experiment: earnest, adequate, and instructive in both directions. Polish, the company learned, is bought by the decade, not the facelift. The truck side's dominance was never threatened by these experiments, and was never meant to be — tuition was the point.
Gratour im8 China · Navigator84 · CC BY-SA 4.0
