MAN gets in on the action
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
By David Wilcox
MAN, HITHERTO determined to keep its focus in the UK firmly on Euro-5, said its first Euro-6 trucks will arrive here next month. Some will be demonstrators, part of a 100-truck order for Euro-6 TGX tractor units placed by truck rental business Dawsonrentals.
Launching MAN Truck & Bus UK's Euro-6 marketing campaign in London earlier this week, chief executive Des Evans (pictured below) said fuel returns from more than 2,000 Euro-6 MAN trucks, already in service throughout Europe, show average economy improvements of between 3% and 5% compared with their Euro-5 equivalents. Evans side-stepped the thorny issue of the Euro-6 purchase
premium, choosing instead to quote typical Euro-6 prices: £79,000 for a TGX 6x2 tractor with an XLX cab, and £59,500 for a TGM 18-tonner with a box body and tail-lift.
"But I question whether anyone needs to buy one — they just need to use it," says Evans. He is keen to promote MAN's contract hire business, translating those capital costs into weekly contract hire rates payable for the same vehicles: £393 and £299 respectively for five-year contracts.
R&M is the way forward
MAN also wants to persuade more customers to buy repair and maintenance (R&M) contracts for Euro-6. Head of aftersales Vince Welsh said 70% of MAN trucks sold this year have been supplied with an R&M package, a figure that rises to 90% for tractor units. MAN service intervals and R&M contract prices are no different for Euro-6 vehicles than their Euro-5 equivalents. This is despite the periodic need to clean the diesel particulate filter (DPF) in Euro-6 exhausts: Evans said MAN is absorbing the cost of doing this. MAN's Euro-6 customers will be
lured into dealers' workshops by MAN's new Wan-antyXtra: a threeyear warranty and roadside assistance/recovery package that comes as standard with Euro-6 vehicles. It includes free engine-oil services and valve clearance adjustment, ensuring all vehicles will be coming into the dealer at least once a year. MAN's Euro-6 models have barely changed from Euro-5, other than the addition of the exhaust after-treatment box containing the DPF, and the SCR system needed as a second stage of NOx reduction after EGR.AdBlue consumption is expected to be modest, at 2% of fuel consumption. Evans presented this low AdBlue consumption rate as a cost saving, on the basis that it is half that of an MAN Euro-5 SCR engine
However, bearing in mind that most MAN trucks in the UK only have EGR, even modest AdBlue consumption will be an additional cost at Euro-6. Power and torque ratings for all MAN Euro-6 engines are identical to those at Euro-5, although torque output is now better at low engine speeds in the 10.5-litre D20 and 12.4-litre D26 engines in
the TGS and TGX. For example, peak torque for the 480hp D26 Euro-6 engine starts at just 930rpm; it was 1,050rpm at Euro-5.
Higher hp to come
The 540hp D26 does not make the transition to Euro-6, because all ratings above 500hp will be handled by a new 15.2-litre in-line six-cylinder engine that replaces the 16.2-litre V8 (this will be revealed next spring). MAN made some minor external frontal styling changes to all its cabs a year ago, applied to late Euro-5 as well as the new Euro-6 models. They include three-piece plastic bumpers, exposing the wiper arms and redesigned corner deflectors and cladding on the A-pillars. Interiors are unchanged in the TGX and TGS, but TGM and TGL dashboards have been upgraded to bring them into line with the TGS. •