MAN AT A GLANCE

The MAN Truck & Bus product portfolio includes trucks, buses, vans, diesel and gas engines as well as services for passenger and freight transportation. The company has production facilities across Europe as well as in South Africa and Turkey. MAN Truck & Bus is part of TRATON Group and has an annual turnover of more than 10.9 billion euros / 88,290 crores INR (2021).

Future vehicles are expected to be ever more autonomous, networked and emission-free in operation. Therefore, MAN’s NewMAN strategy includes sustainability as a crucial business driver for the future. The main focus of the company is the development of a fully autonomous, emission-free vehicle by the end of this decade – according to MAN’s business objective: “Simplifying customer business through leading sustainable solutions.”

THE BEGINNINGS

Entrepreneur Ludwig Sander together with engineer Jean Gaspard Dollfus founded the first direct predecessor company to MAN, the Sander’sche Maschinenfabrik (Sander’s Machine Shop), in Augsburg in 1840. In 1844 this was renamed to C. Reichenbach’sche Maschinenfabrik – after printing machine pioneer Carl August Reichenbach, who made the company famous with his innovative invention. A further renaming to Maschinenfabrik Augsburg followed in 1857. In 1841 the Eisengießerei und Maschinenfabrik Klett & Comp was formed as a sister company in Nuremberg, but was renamed as Maschinenbau-Aktiengesellschaft Nürnberg in 1873. By 1898 the companies in Augsburg and Nuremberg merged to form the Vereinigten Maschinenfabrik Augsburg und Maschinenbaugesellschaft Nürnberg A.G. – and in 1908 they ultimately branded themselves as Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, abbreviated to M.A.N.

20TH CENTURY

The production of commercial vehicles started in 1915 at a small assembly plant in Lindau on Lake Constance. Light cardan trucks were produced here, as well as heavier chain-driven vehicles. Just a year later commercial vehicle production was relocated from Lindau to Nuremberg. In 1924, MAN presented the world’s first diesel engine vehicle with fuel injection and an entirely new type of bus construction, built on a low-frame chassis.

The first 3-axle and trolley buses were built by MAN in the 1930s. This was the most powerful heavy-duty diesel truck in the world at the time, with 140/150 hp. Along with the development of turbo chargers for diesel engines and the all-wheel drive for commercial vehicles, MAN introduced assembly-line production manufacturing. During the Second World War, production was mainly focussed on tanks, and buses and trucks to be used as military vehicles.

INTERNATIONALISATION

In 1953, MAN introduced the legendary F8 short-nose trucks and buses in the MKN design with alligator engine compartment lid. Up until 1954 the tractors, buses and trucks were built in Nuremberg. MAN moved to its new and bigger plant in Munich-Allach due to increasing levels of production. The first truck, a 515 L1, came off the assembly line there on 15 November 1955.

In 1971 MAN took over the Büssing company. This is how the Braunschweig lion found its way on to MAN's product logo. MAN entered into the production and sale of lightweight truck models in cooperation with the French commercial vehicle manufacturer Saviem and later on together with Volkswagen. The 1970s and 1980s saw MAN expanding, predominantly internationally: the Munich-based company produced and sold trucks and buses in South Africa, the United States and Turkey. MAN was also able to achieve a considerable production capacity in Austria thanks to the takeover of the ÖAF, Gräf & Stift and Steyr brands.

2000 AND BEYOND

In 2005, MAN presented the TGL and TGM – the new series of trucks in the lightweight and middle-weight categories. The introduction of the new generation of engines also took place at this time, with innovative common rail systems and MAN HydroDrive® switchable all-wheel drives. Two years later, MAN sets a new milestone in international transport solutions with the two new heavy-duty truck series (the TGX and TGS) as successors to the TGA series. The V8 option with 680 hp was at the time the most powerful series truck in Europe. In 2010, with the MAN Lion‘s City Hybrid, the fourth generation of the hybrid buses went into series production. Thanks to its innovative hybrid drive concept the model could make fuel savings of up to 25%.

2016 was the year of several world premieres. Alongside the new NEOPLAN Tourliner and numerous upgrades to the TG series, MAN stepped into the world of transporters for the first time. The company completed the lower end of its product range with the new MAN TGE, with a permissible gross weight between 3.0 and 5.5 metric tons. In doing so, MAN became a full-range supplier. On top of this, new concepts for electromobility and digital solutions were introduced.

DIGITALISATION AND ELECTRIFICATION

In 2017, MAN embarked on a digital drive and launched several major projects, connecting all trucks to the open, manufacturer-independent platform RIO. This made it possible to standardise route planning, route optimisation, and maintenance management for complex vehicle fleets. Building on this platform, MAN has also been offering its customers tailored digital solutions for MAN vehicles under the name MAN DigitalServices. This gives MAN customers access to their vehicle data in real time, regardless of location. In addition, the MAN Transport Solutions division is being established to support customers entering the field of electromobility.

In addition to an all-electric MAN eTGM, MAN also presented the first MAN eTGE, a battery-electric version of the new MAN Transporter, at the IAA 2018. MAN was thus one of the first manufacturers to present fully electric solutions for the entire range of city logistics between 3.5 and 26 metric tons. In 2018, MAN also launched its new generation of city buses: the Lion's City series offers future-proof solutions for all public transport challenges.

In 2019, MAN conducted the world’s first practical test of platooning technology in cooperation with DB Schenker and Fresenius University of Applied Sciences. In truck platooning, two or more vehicles drive electronically coupled behind each other at short intervals. This increases road safety and the slipstream effect enables fuel savings and reduces CO2 emissions. In 2020, the new MAN truck generation was presented to the public for the first time in Bilbao, Spain. It sets standards in driver orientation, assistance systems and digital networking – and consumes up to eight percent less fuel. Also in 2020, series production of the all-electric Lion’s City E started. More than 1,000 vehicles have already been ordered.