MAN Truck & Bus prepares for declining truck market

2 MinutesBy NZ Trucking magazineNovember 11, 2019

The axles come as pre-fabricated modules, which are lowered onto the MAN chassis for assembly.

Commercial vehicle manufacturer MAN Truck & Bus is adjusting its production in response to declining order volumes in the European truck market, while working to improve its earnings power.

After a record-breaking 2018, it has become apparent the European truck market is slowing down in the second half of 2019. MAN Truck & Bus is now modifying its truck and component production capacity due to current market developments and economic forecasts: the daily production figures are being reduced at the truck plants in Munich, Steyr, and Krakow, as well as the component sites in Nuremberg and Salzgitter.

In Munich, Steyr, Nuremberg, and Salzgitter, this will be in the form of longer cycles, with the Krakow plant also running one shift instead of two. Individual shutdown days and shift cancellations have been announced for the MAN engine plant in Nuremberg in the fourth quarter of 2019.

“We are seeing an ongoing slowdown in the European truck market and thus a significant drop in orders, especially for heavy-duty trucks,” says Joachim Drees, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus SE and member of the TRATON SE executive board.

Drees said they expected the European truck market to decline by around 10 to 20% in the coming year compared with 2019.

“As long as our 2020 expectations prove to be accurate, we plan to make adjustments to our production without resorting to short-time working. Given this deteriorating market environment, it is becoming all the more important for us to continue working on improving our earnings power. This gives us the freedom to be able to invest in new technologies and business models. Despite all the challenges within the market, we intend to strengthen our competitive standing next year with our new generation of trucks.”

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