Our interview with Marc Martinez, CEO Man Truck & Bus Adriatic. The portrait of a pragmatic manager

Marc Martinez has been at the helm of MAN Italy, and also responsible for the Adriatic area, for just over three years. The French manager’s journey has been anything but straightforward, from the initial difficulties caused by supply problems that slowed down the Bavarian brand to the recovery that led MAN Italia to be named Market of the Year in the MAN world for two consecutive years. “We have implemented many changes, investing in our workshops, dealerships, and Top Used centers. And the staff at MAN Italy are working together to win the award again in 2025.” We met Marc Martinez at the new company’s headquarters in Verona.

Marc Martinez, CEO MAN Truck & Bus Adriatic

Mr. Martinez, let’s start by talking about a huge news that happened last summer, with IVECO being acquired by the Indian Tata Group. What’s your opinion about this?

Well, if you look at the European OEMs, most of them already belong to a big group like Volvo or Traton, for instance. What happened to IVECO might indeed turn into an opportunity, mainly in the deployment of electric vehicles to the European market. In terms of R&D, it’s probably good to be backed up by such a big international group. However, honestly, at this point no one knows what the consequences will be on an industrial level, especially in Italy.

Speaking of energy transition, the European figures show that electrification is not having the expected boost in the heavy-duty segment. At the same time, in Europe, MAN has reached a share of 15% in the over-12-ton e-truck segment, more or less the same of conventional ICE trucks. Have you been surprised by that?

Electrification of heavy-duty transport still has some major issues. To mention some, the lack of incentives to buy a truck, or the current lack of infrastructure, above all in some countries, like Italy. As MAN, we have invested a lot in the development of e-mobility, for sure. First, let me remind you that we have a very wide range of products for e-mobility. Today, we can provide the customers with products from 12 to 44 tonnes, and that is not the case for all OEMs. We have not only tractors, but also rigid trucks.

We invested massively because we are really convinced that our products can make the difference with other competitors. And we have invested not only in a factory for building tractors, but also for assembling the batteries in-house. We are talking about 100 million euros of investment. So, we are a little bit frustrated, because we are ready to sell these e-vehicles everywhere, however we see the market is not ready yet.

As for the market shares you were mentioning, honestly speaking, it’s quite tough for me to answer, as the overall share of BEVs is still very low nowadays, I’m not talking only about MAN. We must admit that the targets we have are not accessible, as the demand from the market is still very low due to the reasons we have already mentioned. It will come for sure, we just don’t know when.

Customers and electric mobility development

How is MAN approaching customers willing to approach electric mobility in Italy? And what about the current poor public charging infrastructure?

As we have quite a large portfolio of products, we are not really limited, I would say, in terms of proposal. Today some activities are maybe less useful for electric vehicles. For instance, we have reached agreement with the Esseco Group, which is willing to rely on two electric TGX trucks for very specific transport activities. I truly think that the success of selling e-trucks is once again to have a 360-degrees approach, to check with the customer all the aspects related to their tasks.

In this strategy, a very important part is about infrastructure, that’s why we consider the opening of the first Milence charging hub crucial for the development of electric mobility in the trucking industry, and we do hope more hubs will be coming soon. I can tell you that when we talk to the customers, the first question is always: where will I charge my truck?

Currently, we have sold about 20 e-trucks in Italy. This shows that the market is still quite low, but MAN is performing and can demonstrate that we are anyway more than ready to sell even more electric vehicles.

More than once, you’ve underlined the importance of a suitable and efficient service network. How was it improved in the latest years? And what are the next steps, also thinking of trends like electrification and energy transition?

Investing in service and assistance is always a positive thing, that’s why we try to convince our investors to invest strongly, massively in the coming years in these workshops. Indeed, our ambition is to grow the number of MAN trucks on the road, so the profitability of the workshops will be higher. Now that we are getting closer to 10% market share, investors are more willing to do that.

Also, an important part of our strategy deals with covering some areas where we were not present before. By next year, these areas will be covered. I would say that we have the advantage of selling electric coaches and buses, so we have started upgrading our network even before other competitors.

MAN TGE: working along with Volkswagen on the electric version of the van

We’ve recently driven the latest version of the TGE. How’s the van going? Is it correct to say that MAN doesn’t believe enough in electrification in the van segment to develop an up-to-date version of the eTGE?

Italy is the fourth total market in terms of volumes in Europe in the van sector. Speaking of figures, in 2022 we sold 751 vans, and last year we sold double, about 1600 TGEs. However, with these units we are still quite a small player in the market. I can say we’re lucky to cooperate with a big player like Volkswagen, as we jointly produce the TGE in Europe.

The main reason why we don’t have an electric TGE now is that we are co-developing with Volkswagen a brand-new generation of electric vans, based on a totally new platform. It’s important to notice that MAN and Volkswagen are working together on it, unlikely in the original TGE project. About the TGE, I can proudly say that it’s well appreciated by the Italian customers, we’ve got lots of surveys showing that.

Earlier this year, the newest version of the TGX achieved an amazing result on the Vado e Torno test track, with a record-breaking 4.44 km/l result. How important is it to approach the market with a truck equipped with a state-of-the-art engine and powertrain in the current scenario?

Tractors are the core product of MAN. We want to be able to deliver the best fuel consumption, but also to have the best maintenance, cost, saving, also the best reserve value. That’s why we invested a lot, led by our CEO, Alexander Vlaskamp. The newest engine, the D30, joined by a new gearbox, are the results of huge investments, and I’m happy to see that we are now delivering as expected. All the work done by our engineers in the last years was amazing.

2026 will mark quite an important anniversary for MAN Italia, 40 years. What can you tell us in advance about the way you’re going to celebrate such an achievement?

MAN Italia is, I’d say, one of the youngest branches that MAN has in Europe. Of course, we’ll be celebrating together with our partners and customers who believed in us, who invested in the brand. We’ll have the international MAN sales conference here in Italy, in Rome, next year, with the great opportunity welcome our board members, as well as colleagues, employees, partners, and dealers. We’ll have some extraordinary events and initiatives next year; I’m looking forward to them.

“A smart premium brand”

What is the image you want to have as the head of the Italian branch of MAN? What was your idea when you started your current job?

I wanted to represent, if I can try to find the right words, a smart premium brand. First, we decided to move to our new headquarters, highlighting the dimension of the VW group. Speaking of image, also, service is key, as we mentioned before. I often say that selling a truck is not enough anymore, so we raised drastically sales of maintenance contracts today, with 65% of sales made with a maintenance contract, the highest level in Europe for MAN. Something similar will happen with the new Traton financial service opportunities for customers. We really want our customers to have the best possible TCO for their vehicles. We know the image cannot change in one year, it is a long-term trend, but we are really working on it, also by investing in new, young and enthusiast people.

Last but not least, Mr. Martinez, you’ve been at the helm of MAN Italia for slightly more than three years. Would you like to take stock of what’s been done so far?

We have implemented a lot of changes, as well as key measures to be sure that MAN Italia would reach a higher and better level. We are investing in our own workshops, with three more compared to 2022. We have some new dealers, and Top Used Centres. I do believe figures are important to lead a manager’s action, to achieve concrete results.

However, the main achievement we did during the last three years is to change the mindset, the spirit of our employees to be much more dynamic and enthusiast. To be proud of the brand they’re working for. We won, as we said, for two years in a row the market of year award within the company, and this is coming from the behavior of people who decided to push like ever. We’re working hard to win next year, too. It would be a great way to celebrate the 40^th anniversary of MAN Italia.