Key takeaways
- MAN and its partners plan around €700 million of European service-network investment by 2030.
- The company wants almost 80% of customers to be within 30 minutes of a MAN workshop.
- Around one third of the investment will go towards electromobility and digitalisation, including battery repairs, technician training and charging.
- Priority markets include Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain and Turkey.
The figure is considerably higher than previously announced. MAN committed €300 million to its own network earlier this year, while dealers, service partners and importers have now pledged a further €400 million for their MAN locations across Europe.
The investment will be used both to modernise existing locations and add new service points in areas where MAN considers its current geographical coverage insufficient. For transport operators, the most tangible target is a substantial reduction in the distance trucks need to travel for servicing and repairs.
MAN says it wants almost four out of five customers to have a journey of less than 30 minutes to their nearest service location. The target is being pursued particularly in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Poland, Spain and Turkey. New sites are expected in especially logistics-intensive regions where existing coverage is not sufficient.
Earlier this year, Friedrich Baumann, MAN executive board member for Sales and Customer Solutions, said the company was opening an average of seven new branches a year in these priority markets. MAN argued that proximity to workshops is particularly important in commercial transport because vehicle availability directly affects operators’ businesses.
Electric trucks change what a workshop needs to provide
The expansion is not simply about putting more conventional workshops on the map. Around one third of the planned investment is earmarked for electromobility and digitalisation, as MAN prepares its aftersales operation for growing numbers of battery-electric commercial vehicles.
Measures include high-voltage qualifications for technicians, specialist battery repair centres, digital workshop processes and publicly accessible charging infrastructure at MAN locations.
MAN said earlier this year that two thirds of its service locations should be prepared for electromobility during 2026. Its European network comprises around 1,200 MAN-owned and partner operations, giving the manufacturer an extensive existing base on which to build the new capabilities.
The shift matters increasingly for hauliers introducing electric trucks. Access to qualified technicians and battery diagnostics can determine not only how quickly a vehicle is repaired but also how far it has to travel — or be recovered — to reach a workshop capable of handling a high-voltage system.
That makes service coverage another part of the competition between truck manufacturers as operators evaluate electric vehicles alongside conventional diesel fleets.
First new sites already taking shape
Some projects under the investment programme are already under way. Near Lisbon in Portugal, MAN has begun construction of a new company-owned sales and service branch. The facility at Castanheira do Ribatejo represents one of the first visible projects under MAN’s service-network expansion programme.
Meanwhile, long-standing MAN partner Adampolis Group is preparing to open a new location in Kaunas, Lithuania, later this year, which MAN says will become one of its largest sales and service sites in Europe.
The €700 million programme combines MAN’s own €300 million commitment with the additional €400 million now planned by its dealers, service partners and importers.
MAN described the combined investment as unprecedented in the company’s history. For fleet operators, however, the more relevant measure of its success will be considerably simpler: how quickly a truck that needs attention can reach a suitably equipped workshop and return to service.
