When the long-time VW manager Andreas Tostmann switched to trucks more than a year ago and became MAN boss, many were surprised to ask: Can it also be a 40-ton truck? MAN, of all places, which has been rebuilding and saving over and over again for years. And precisely in these turbulent times when everything is in motion at the VW truck holding Traton, to which MAN and its Swedish sister company Scania belong. When Scania boss Christian Levin was recently named Traton boss and thus de facto Tostmann’s superior, this could be understood as an announcement: The Swedes now want to take action in Munich. Is the MAN boss now disempowered? On a rainy October afternoon, Tostmann sits very confidently in his office. Does he expect further turbulence? No, he is counting on peace.
SZ: Mr. Tostmann, Traton boss Matthias Gründler is gone overnight, the new one is the incumbent Scania boss Christian Levin, and many MAN employees in Munich are now afraid of getting under the wheels.
Andreas Tostmann: There is absolutely no reason to be afraid. Christian Levin knows the brands from his position on the board of Traton. The cooperation is already going on and is getting closer and closer, as concrete projects like a common engine show. I see great opportunities in this for all of the Group’s brands.
MAN and Scania, but that was also a rivalry for years. Will the Swedes not take over power if the Scania boss is now also the boss of the holding company?
I don’t see it that way at all. We have outlined a very clear path, and it stipulates that we will now take care of the rebuilding and the necessary restructuring together. That will keep us busy for some time.
Are you expecting further surprising personal details?
No. I count on calm.
Also at the top of MAN?
We have a vacancy in finance, that’s all.
Does that mean that you are preparing yourself to remain boss at MAN for a longer period of time?
My mandate, which has been coordinated with the Supervisory Board, is to successfully implement the restructuring here, and I will do that.
Christian Levin is now your supervisor. How are you as MAN boss?
Good. I know and appreciate Christian Levin as a competent and experienced manager and am therefore looking forward to continuing our collaboration.
For real? Don’t you feel a bit taken by surprise because the boss of the partner company is superordinate to you?
No. I have known Christian Levin for some time; we have already worked well together on the Board of Management. We have the same issues at Scania and MAN, and now it’s about the brands working even more closely together.
But that’s what it’s been about for many years.
Yes, but now it’s about the new technologies that are coming our way, and with them new opportunities. Battery drives for trucks and buses, automated driving – all of this is now available and requires a new look at possible opportunities for cooperation.
This is not all that new now, the opportunities for cooperation have been explored earlier.
That’s right, and a lot has been achieved in the past. Take, for example, the common engine CBE. From 2024 the engines will also be manufactured at MAN in Nuremberg.
The teams’ truck at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Istanbul: “But we are assuming that 40 percent of the trucks in long-distance transport will be electric by the end of this decade,” says Tostmann.
(Photo: imago images)
You were a car manager at VW until a year ago. Where was MAN when you came to Munich last year?
Great know-how, great products, great team, great technology.
But something must have gone wrong. Was it too slow?
In fact, MAN was not doing well economically even before the Corona crisis. The crisis has made our situation worse. That is why we have undertaken the rebuilding and restructuring.
Christian Levin has announced that he now wants to transfer Scania’s production method, the so-called Lego principle, to the whole group. What is in store for MAN?
It’s about modules, kits – and we’ve been talking about this for a long time: How can we use the same modules in vehicles from different brands? Motors, gearboxes, charging options for batteries and other components.
In all of this, what will come from Scania in the future, what will come from MAN?
We have a preliminary breakdown. Scania is currently in charge of the development of electric drives, MAN is developing the charging environment in the vehicle, and the two brands are developing the battery together.
The change costs jobs: MAN cuts 3,500 jobs, the truck plant in Steyr with around 1,400 employees goes to the former Magna boss Siegfried Wolf. What can he do better than MAN?
He has a different business model than we do, so I don’t want to speak for him, you have to ask him yourself. For us it was an important part of the realignment to give up the Steyr location.
MAN has been considered a renovation case for years, especially from the Scania headquarters in Södertälje. Why was it always better at Scania, what was it missing at MAN?
Let us look to the future rather than the past. We are now pursuing a comprehensive implementation plan.
And when will you be through with it?
It will take until 2023 before we can say: the renovation is completely finished.
So you are going to cut other positions?
We have agreed a plan with the employee representatives and we are sticking to it. The conversion will in fact keep us busy for a long time.
And then there is the lack of chips, which is leading to enormous production losses, especially in the automotive industry.
We managed that quite well in the first half of the year. Due to the persistent supply bottlenecks, there may also be interruptions in production at our various production sites.
When will you be producing the last diesel truck?
At MAN, we have not yet defined an end to the diesel engine. However, we are assuming that 60 percent of trucks in regional and distribution transport and 40 percent in long-distance transport will be electric by the end of this decade. In cities, 90 percent of our city buses will be battery-powered by 2030.
Would you actually choose the job of truck driver today if you were young again?
I worked as a truck driver as a student and earned money with it. I always had a lot of fun.
Long distances?
My tours were in the evening, as a replacement for the regular drivers, from 5 to 11 p.m.
Why is there a lack of 80,000 drivers in Germany today? Do we now need more self-driving trucks very quickly?
I think there are other adjustments to be made along the way. We have to make the trucks even more comfortable, and provide the drivers with the best possible support with assistance systems so that the job becomes more attractive. That is also our job as a truck manufacturer.