The main 00 MAN
Page 18
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Euro-6, lead times, the world truck: all these issues hold no fear for Dr Georg Pachta-Reyhofen, CEO of MAN
Words: Justin Stanton
WHILE WE FILLED six pages of last week's issue with coverage of the IAA Show at Hannover, the exhibition was remarkable only for how unremarkable it was. No real major launches and no surprises.
However. MAN had more going on at the show than most. showcasing products and services both fantastical and giounded in the real world. The aerodynamicallyoptimised Concept S (CM 16 September) accounted for the former, while the likes of the TGX Efficient Line and Million Mobility (CM 7 October) accounted for the latter.
CM sat down with MAN CEO Dr Georg Pachta-Reyhofen on the second day of the show, a few hours after he had taken the wraps off the Concept S. and therefore it seemed only right to kick off with that.
The concept garnered "very positive reaction", he says. However, all-too wary of show specials produced simply to grab headlines, CM asks: is there anything on Concept S that could become a production reality soon? "Yes, but only with a new truck." Pachta-Reyhofen says -The next generation could look like Concept S."
The European recovery However, he adds the caveat that dimension regulations would need to change to maintain current cabin space and load space.
Back to the real world, and Pachta-Reyhofen is keen to talk about the 'end' of the recession.
"In Europe, we see a recovery, especially the UK, which is recovering fast. Spain is coming back tremendously," he says "Eastern Europe is coming back, but Germany is still the driver!The Middle East is recovering as well as Russia. In Russia, we dropped from 10,000 trucks [MAN being the biggest importer to that market] to a few hundred; now we expect 2,500 to 3,000 this year, and it will grow further.
"China never had a downturn: last year, our partner Sinotruk produced 120,000 trucks; this year it will be 190,000, may be 200,000.
"India is coming back. and Brazil is booming [helped by incentives that mean operators can buy trucks virtually tax-free]."
He notes that the average fleet age in Brazil is 17 years compared with the average in Europe of 10 years. He also expects a pre-buy effect in Brazil next year as the country jumps from Euro-3 straight to Euro-5 in 2012. We move onto the debate about the concept of the world truck, and the influence that serving the enormous Chinese market has.
Taking on China
"There is no world truck," he states firmly. "In the Chinese market, you have several categories: in the low segment, you're talking about trucks retailing at €6,000-€7000 E£5,245 to L6,1201."
He describes this as a market that is unique to China and no basis for a world truck platform.
"Of the 2.8 million trucks sold in China every year, only one million are trucks as we would recognise them OK, that's still four times the size of Europe...he muses.
His message is clear: MAN will concentrate on the upper segment in China. With time ticking by, we wrap up the interview with the Euro-6 issue. He dismisses concerns about a surge in Euro-5 orders ahead of the introduction of Euro-6. "We expect the politicians to come up with some attractive programmes [to incentivise operators to buy Euro-4 Our customers will calculate what works best.The politicians will effectively [be able] to manipulate this situation," he states.
He declines to say how much more a Euro-6 truck will cost compared with a Euro-5, but concedes that it will be "significantly more expensive" , and puts the fuel consumption penalty at "best-case scenario zero; worst case 3%-4%". •