MAN for all seasons

Last month, MAN launched its new truck range at a lavish press event held in Bilbao, Northern Spain as part of a rolling series of events that will showcase the heavily revised range to customers, factory and dealer staff over a number of weeks. The new trucks will replace the existing models from 7.5 to 250 tonnes GVW in due course and represents a major step forward for the German manufacturer

- Bob Beech

The same basic model designations have been retained, the launch event concentrated on the heavyweight models, the biggest TGX cab is now the GX, along with the medium cab GM and flat roof GN. The engines and drivelines are also carried over from before, they were all revised back in spring 2019 for Euro 6d and given new power ratings.

The D26 12.4 litre underwent a host of changes at the time, the basic engine gave MAN more than a few problems at Euro 5 in EGR only form.

They fully acknowledged the issues and put things right at the time and the engine is now radically different. The ratings are 430/470 and 510hp and the maximum torque is 2200/2400 and 2600Nm from a lowly 930 to 1350rpm. The TurboEVBec engine brake has been uprated and now produces up to 350kW continuous braking power.

The top power D38 15.21 six-cylinder is rated at 540/580 and 640hp, with torque outputs of 2700/2900 and 3000Nm respectively, this modern design is still quite a rare beast outside of heavy haulage applications, it will be interesting to see if the combination of a new cab and other changes increase its popularity in the UK.

Transmissions in the heavier tractors and rigids are the familiar ZF Traxon automated 12 speed, with specialist off-road software for tippers and other heavy applications and the Scania Opticruise 12 speed+ 2 crawler gears in 4x2 tractor units with MAN Software. There is now the option of a high 2.31.1 axle ratio to reduce revs even further with the high torque outputs from the bigger engines.