A location with tradition and a future

Octoberfest in the middle of summer! If a big wheel 40 metres high with seats for 200 people and a huge beer tent are being set up at the MAN factory in Munich in June, there must be something very special to celebrate. And that’s exactly what happened. Some 20,000 guests, including around 8,000 employees and their families, came to celebrate the 70th birthday of MAN's original factory. An extensive programme and exciting exhibits awaited them, including 40 vehicles from MAN’s history up to the eTruck, and the current FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München team buses.

“We can all be proud of the site’s history,” said MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp. “The development and series production of our ‘Made in München’ eTruck is just the latest proof of the innovation and versatility of the factory, and marks a historic milestone for both MAN and this location. Together, we have always found the right solution for every challenge, skilfully linking the historic and the modern. This powerful tradition provides an excellent foundation on which to build our future.”

Ongoing expansion of the traditional factory

Since 1955, the Munich factory has produced 1.25 million trucks, two million cabs and three million axles. Over the last 70 years, MAN has continuously expanded the hall space on the factory site. Construction of the two administration buildings on Dachauer Straße followed in 2008, and later of the Truck Forum and the Bus Forum. These serve both as exhibition and event spaces, and for the handover of vehicles to customers. More buildings were added to the factory site from 2016 with the construction of a new paint shop and state-of-the-art bodywork plant, as well as the engineering and testing buildings.

Paulaner delivered by electric Lion and horse-drawn dray

Another key aspect of MAN’s sustainability strategy is the switch to electric vehicles. It came as no surprise, then, that the new eTruck also took centre stage at the anniversary celebrations. Munich’s Paulaner brewery delivered the beer for the guests using an electric Lion. And alongside the eTruck, as is only right, a horse-drawn dray also brought a few barrels of beer to the factory. “Delivering beer to the factory celebration using both a horse-drawn dray and an electric truck represents a strong symbol for us: we’re combining our centuries-old brewing tradition with innovative technology and showing that sustainability is possible in many different forms,” said Jörg Bieberneck, CEO of the Paulaner Group.