The market situation for truck and bus manufacturers remains challenging, and the industry does not anticipate an improvement even in 2026. Increasing competitive pressure, primarily from China, is prompting MAN’s management to seek deep cost cuts and faster restructuring.
Documents that reached the supervisory boards of MAN and its parent company Traton were accessed by the Austrian newspaper Kurier. They indicate that the company’s management is demanding the implementation of a broad package of changes which – despite expected opposition from the employee side – are to be approved as “necessary for long-term competitiveness”.
MAN focuses on Krakow. Body production will move from Munich
The plan involves another significant transfer of production from Germany to Krakow. In Poland, the construction of bodies for the so-called Traton Modular System – a standardised vehicle platform used across the entire group – will be concentrated. In Krakow, there will also be:
- a new cab paint shop,
- complete cab interior assembly lines.
Kurier also reveals that an element of the savings programme is the elimination of benefits that go beyond the collective labour agreement – a measure expected to save around 160 million euros.
According to an expert opinion presented to the supervisory board, the entire reorganisation programme is expected to improve the company’s financial result by 935 million euros by 2028. If the measures are not implemented, MAN – according to the report’s authors – will not achieve a positive return on sales in 2028.
Why Poland? Growing difficulties in producing in Germany
MAN’s production in Germany is currently concentrated in Munich, Nuremberg and Salzgitter. Rising energy and labour costs, deteriorating economic conditions and increasingly strict climate regulations make maintaining a large portion of production in Germany unprofitable.
Between 2021 and 2023, the German economy lost more than 50,000 industrial jobs, with 74% of companies citing the desire to reduce labour costs as the main reason. MAN is thus part of a broader trend of relocating production to EU countries with lower operating costs – especially Poland.
MAN’s Krakow plant – modernised in 2023 – is described as one of the most modern truck factories in Europe, which further encourages the company to shift additional processes there.
Read more: Girteka focuses on Poland: forwarding and transport operations at the heart of growth strategy
German plants to remain open, but unions are sceptical
Officially, MAN declares that despite the reorganisation, all plants in Munich, Nuremberg and Salzgitter will remain open. The manufacturer assures that the company will invest 1 billion euros in Germany over five years – including 700 million euros in Munich and 25 million euros in Salzgitter – and that there will be no layoffs.
However, Kurier notes that a legal opinion prepared for the supervisory board by the law firm Linklaters unequivocally recommends approving the savings programme, emphasising the obligation to act “exclusively in the best interest of the company”. This interest is to ensure profitability – even at the cost of difficult decisions.
Unions and the works council believe that this provision effectively means that employee protests will not stop the relocation of production to Poland. Sybille Wankel from IG Metall warns that the board’s decisions “threaten the existence of the main plant in Munich”. Karina Schnur, chairwoman of the central works council, criticises them even more strongly, calling them “a slap in the face for the employees”.
Read more: October PMI: Southern Europe leads manufacturing recovery as Germany and France lag behind
Background of planned reductions. Up to 2.3 thousand jobs to disappear in Germany
Although MAN emphasises that layoffs are not planned, official communication indicates that the company intends to reduce 2.3 thousand jobs in Germany over a decade – mainly through natural attrition.
The biggest reductions are expected to affect:
- Munich – 1.3 thousand positions,
- Salzgitter – 600 positions,
- Nuremberg – 400 positions.
According to management, natural turnover is expected to be even higher than the planned cuts, which should maintain a total of approximately 13 thousand jobs. However, unions openly question these calculations, seeing the programme as the beginning of a long-term wind-down of production in Germany.
Mercedes also chose Poland
Likewise, Mercedes-Benz recently announced the gradual phase-out of Sprinter model production at its Ludwigsfelde plant near Berlin. The plant, with more than a 30-year tradition and 2.2 thousand employees, will cease production by the end of 2029, and its future remains unclear. IG Metall considers the decision “unacceptable” and has announced protests.
The reasons are almost identical to MAN’s case: a rapid increase in operating costs in Germany, competitive pressure, and the attractiveness of Poland for automotive manufacturing, where labour costs remain up to five times lower than in Germany according to Eurostat data. Mercedes is investing 360 million euros in the expansion of the Jawor plant, which is set to become a key production centre for the electric e-Sprinter.
