MAN will continue with a two-pronged approach to truck sales in the UK for the foreseeable future, offering operators a choice of new Euro-6 or used Euro-5 vehicles well into 2014.
Speaking at the launch of MAN’s complete Euro-6 line up – other than engines over 500hp, which will be revealed next spring – earlier this month, chief executive Des Evans said MAN had 2,144 mainly Euro-5 trucks in the rental fleet, of which 1,500 were tractor units. These will be moved from rental to used truck sales and the rental fleet backfilled with Euro-6 as necessary.
Nevertheless, Evans extolled the virtues of the new MAN Euro-6 trucks, confirming that fixed-price R&M packages will be available costing no more than the Euro-5 equivalent despite the added cost of cleaning particulate filters. “It is brave to offer fixed R&M costs on Euro-6 but we have a lot of experience with SCR and EGR,” he said. “We have 10,000 trucks on contract maintenance so we know what they cost to run.”
MAN will have Euro-6 demonstrators available for operators from October and Dawsonrentals has ordered 100 Euro-6 MAN TGX tractor units, all with 440hp D26 engines and XLX cabs, to be delivered next spring.
Experience on the Continent with more than 2,000 Euro-6 trucks indicates that fuel consumption is 3% to 5% lower than Euro-5 (with effective driver training) and reliability is excellent. All the Euro-6 trucks use both EGR and SCR, so for most MAN owners, AdBlue will be an additional cost, albeit expected to be just 2% of fuel consumption.
Evans revealed some typical purchase prices but argued that a better approach than buying and maintaining trucks was to take them on a full MAN contract hire and maintenance package. “I would question if anyone needs to buy one – just use it,” he said. “The purchase cost of the truck is insignificant compared with the running costs.”
For example, a TGL 7.5-tonner costs £42,900 to buy or £235 a week on contract hire; a TGM 18-tonner costs £59,500 or £299 a week; a TGX 44-tonner costs £79,000 or £393 a week. Contract hire rates exclude road tax and tyres but are fixed for five years or up to 750,000km depending on the truck type. The weekly rates are between £8 and £28 dearer than Euro-5 but Evans said that reduced fuel use could save up to £10,000 over five years.
Almost 60% of new MAN truck sales are financed by the manufacturer and more than 70% are sold with a contract maintenance package. All Euro-6 trucks will come with MAN’s WarrantyXtra as standard, which includes three years’ full warranty, engine oil service and roadside assistance and recovery.
Head of aftersales Vince Welsh said: “We want the truck back at least once a year as there is a big difference in warranty costs between the trucks we see and those that are independently maintained.”
MAN is also keen to push its telematics-based fleet management system, which provides reports on driver style and performance. This rates drivers from A to G, and moving them from a D to a B rating can yield fuel savings of 10%. For Euro-6, operators can add enhancements including forward-facing cameras, contextual speeding, incident data recorder and harsh cornering as well as braking alerts.
