MAN Truck & Bus can look back on a very successful year in 2018. The company shifted up a gear in all three product sectors – Truck, Bus and Van – in terms of sales revenue as well as incoming orders and vehicle sales. MAN Truck & Bus also increased its market shares.
In 2018 MAN Truck & Bus increased its turnover by 8% over the previous year to €10.8 billion. In terms of numbers of units, sales increased by about 14 % to more than 102,500 units, while order intake registered a huge increase of 20 %. The company thereby benefitted not only from increased demand; MAN gained market shares with both trucks and buses.
Joachim Drees, Chairman of the Executive Board, is satisfied with the development: “The high level of incoming orders and above all the increase in market shares show that we are on the right road. Customers trust our technologies, our products and our services, whether trucks, buses or vans are concerned. Continuous improvement and operational excellence are the prerequisites for ensuring future growth and the attainment of profitability goals. With our current investments in research and development, in new technologies and new, innovative products we are securing the long-term competitiveness of our trucks, buses and vans.“
However, MAN Truck & Bus suffered a downturn in the operating profit, which fell to €402 million. The operating return on sales in 2018 was around 3.7%.
Sales in the Truck division increased by 7% over the previous year. At the same time MAN was able to increase its market share in this segment by almost 1 percent to 16.5. Overall, MAN Truck & Bus sold 95,352 trucks (including 7,871 vans MAN TGE) in the reporting year. Joachim Drees: “With our current models – MAN TGX for long-distance haulage, MAN TGS for weight-sensitive transport, MAN TGM for heavy distribution transport and MAN TGL for light distribution transport – we offer suitable solutions for our customers’ needs in terms of both performance and reliability as well as the total cost of ownership.“
The Bus division enjoyed a particularly positive development in 2018, increasing sales to 7,204 vehicles. Göran Nyberg, Member of the Board for Sales and Marketing, says: “In the past years we have succeeded in developing the bus business from what was once a problem child to a very successful corporate division. We managed to increase the market share to 14.5 percent in 2018. Above all, our customers value the high reliability and safety, the excellent design, innovative technologies, high comfort and comprehensive customer orientation in sales and service. In the coach segment we have two top models in the field in the NEOPLAN Tourliner and the MAN Lion’s Coach. And we are just successfully bringing our new city bus generation of the MAN Lion’s City onto the market. It leads in cost- effectiveness and, unlike many competitors, is designed right from the start for full electric operation, which we will be manufacturing in series from 2020.“
The newest product in the MAN portfolio, the MAN TGE van, has also developed much better than expected. Göran Nyberg is very pleased: “With incoming orders for 10,000 units and 7,871 delivered vehicles we have far exceeded our goals for the van. With its wide range of models with maximum permissible weights from 3.5 to 5.5 tonnes, its advanced safety equipment and its wide choice of body variants and industry solutions, the MAN TGE is a genuine MAN – comfortable, sturdy, reliable and cost-effective.“