Two Foton Auman 6×2 cargo trucks, $1,700 apart — close enough that the price should not decide it. Then you read the gross weight line, and the whole comparison flips.

The Auman Planet 290 is listed at $36,000 and rated at roughly 16 tonnes. The Auman MA5 is listed at $34,300 and rated at 22,000 kg. The cheaper truck carries about six tonnes more on paper, and it is the one with ABS.

That is not a mistake in the catalogue. It is two trucks built for two different jobs that happen to share a drive configuration and a price band. Understanding which is which will save you from a very expensive wrong order.

The two trucks side by side

A note on the MA5 power figure, because you should not take it at face value. The specification field reads 198, and the product description refers to an ISDe270 engine producing 198 kW. Those two readings do not agree: 198 kW corresponds to roughly 270 hp, not 198 hp. Ask the supplier to confirm the rating in writing. The 970 Nm torque figure is published on both the sheet and the description, and that is the number that matters for pulling 22 tonnes.

Why the cheaper truck is heavier

The MA5 is built on the MA5 platform as a 22-tonne vehicle with a 13-tonne middle/rear axle and a 6.5-tonne front axle, a 286 mm frame section and 11 tyres. It is a load-first design. Its published use cases are refrigerated transport, fresh food transport and warehouse work — all applications where the constraint is how much you can legally carry, not how fast you can get there.

The Planet is built as an express and freight truck. Its published GVW values cluster around 15.5 to 16 tonnes, it runs a 440 rear axle with a choice of 4.444 or 4.875, and it carries a 600-litre aluminium tank. That is a distance-first design.

Once you see it that way, the rest of the sheet stops being contradictory. The 5.286 axle ratio on the MA5 is a working ratio for heavy starts and grades. The 4.444 to 4.875 range on the Planet is biased the other way, toward cruise. The 260-litre MA5 tank versus the 600-litre Planet tank is the same story again: one truck expects to refuel at a depot, the other expects to cover ground.

The axle and tyre question nobody asks

Tyre specification is a genuine operating cost difference that buyers skip past. The Planet runs nine 12R22.5 18PR tubeless tyres. The MA5 runs eleven 11.00R20 bias-ply tyres with inner tubes.

Tubeless radials run cooler, resist punctures better and are generally cheaper per kilometre on paved roads. Bias-ply with tubes is tougher against sidewall damage on rough ground and easier to repair in a small roadside shop. Neither is universally better — but if you are running highway express work, tubeless is the right answer, and the MA5 does offer 11R22.5, 10R22.5 and 295/80R22.5 tubeless as options. Specify them.

Eleven tyres against nine is also a straight recurring cost. Budget for two more units per replacement cycle on the MA5, and note that a 22-tonne truck will wear them faster than a 16-tonne one.

Emissions: two different certificates again

The Planet carries National VI (China VI). The MA5 carries Euro IV via an SCR route. As with any two Foton trucks from different platform generations, check what your market accepts before you compare prices — a $1,700 saving disappears entirely if the truck cannot be registered.

The MA5 sheet also names its sales and coverage countries explicitly: Vietnam as the primary market, with the Philippines, Honduras, Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Peru, Nicaragua, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Jamaica listed as covered. If you are in one of those, the certification question is largely already answered.

The comfort and equipment gap

The Planet publishes very little on cab equipment beyond the standard-floor or high-roof body, but its product material is explicit about driver comfort: a lower berth 700 mm wide and an upper berth 695 mm with 840 mm of berth spacing, a flat-floor cabin, and ventilated and heated seats. That is a truck designed around a driver sleeping in it.

The MA5 lists a flat-roof extended cab, manual air conditioning, power windows, central locking, power rearview mirrors and an MP3 system as standard, with electric air conditioning and MP5 offered as options. It also lists a PTO as a transmission option, which matters if you intend to drive a refrigeration unit — and given that refrigeration is one of its stated applications, it probably should.

Both trucks list an air deflector. The MA5 additionally lists a foreign tachograph, which is worth having if you operate across borders or need to evidence driver hours.

The Planet product material is specific about its cab in the same way the 4×2 Planet is: a lower berth 700 mm wide, an upper berth 695 mm, 840 mm of berth spacing, a flat-floor cabin and ventilated and heated seats. It also claims a large-angle front axle with a large-diameter steering mechanism cutting turning radius by 10% and steering effort by 30% — which on a 6×2 with a 2,100 + 5,200 mm wheelbase is a genuinely useful claim, because that configuration is not naturally agile.

The MA5 does not publish a sleeper specification, which is consistent with its positioning: a warehouse and fresh-food truck working depot-to-depot, where the driver goes home at the end of a shift rather than sleeping in the cab. If your drivers do sleep in the truck, that is a point for the Planet.

Reading the four gross weight figures on the Planet

The Planet sheet lists four GVW values: 16,070, 16,005, 15,570 and 15,505 kg. That is not sloppiness — it is the standard way of expressing the weight consequences of different cab and equipment combinations. The spread is only 565 kg, so it does not change the comparison against the MA5, but it does mean you should confirm which variant you are being quoted for, because the 565 kg is payload you either have or do not have.

The MA5, by contrast, publishes one figure: 22,000 kg. Simpler to plan against, and roughly six tonnes clear of the Planet at any variant.

Which one should you buy?

Buy the MA5 if

your loads are heavy and your routes are short to medium, you need the 22-tonne rating to make the trip count, you want ABS as standard, and your market accepts Euro IV. The six extra tonnes is the whole argument.

Buy the Planet if

your routes are long, your loads are volumetric rather than heavy, you want the 600-litre tank and tubeless tyres for distance work, and you need China VI certification. The 290 hp and the longer-legged gearing are the whole argument.

One honest caveat: the MA5 is the better-documented of the two. It publishes axles, frame section, brakes, suspension and drive side. The Planet sheet leaves several of those blank. If you are buying the Planet, ask for the missing figures in writing before you sign — particularly brake control, since ABS is not published.

Compare the two trucks side by side