MAN Truck & Bus Senior Vice President Thomas Hemmerich, center, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times and three other Korean news outlets at Grand Hyatt Incheon, July 2. From left are MAN's executive board member Fredrich Baumann, Hemmerich and MAN Truck & Bus Korea Managing Director Peter Andersson. Courtesy of MAN Truck & Bus

INCHEON — It has been difficult for MAN Truck & Bus over the past six years to rebuild its reputation that was damaged severely in Korea by lingering legal disputes with local truckers over alleged engine defects in its vehicles.

The Volkswagen-owned commercial vehicle maker has faced declining popularity in Korea, since 2018 when Korean truck owners started complaining about the engines of their trucks rusting.

Although MAN apologized to Korean customers and began recalling its dump trucks in 2021, the company once again became the only imported commercial vehicle brand that showed a decline in the number of newly registered vehicles during the first five months of this year.

The German firm's senior executives, however, claimed that massive recalls, as well as its service and maintenance program, have allowed it to regain trust of Korean customers slowly but surely. As of last month, 95.4 percent of MAN's trucks equipped with Euro 6 engines were recalled in Korea.

"We've maintained very much communication with many customers to make sure that we solve this," MAN Truck & Bus Korea Managing Director Peter Andersson said in a recent interview with The Korea Times and three other news outlets here.

"I'm not going to comment on our competitors, but we have a very solid service and maintenance program and a warranty, which no one can compare to us."

Senior Vice President Thomas Hemmerich, who had led MAN's Korean operation until April, emphasized that the 95.4 percent fulfillment rate is the highest MAN has ever achieved in its history. He promised that the company will not stop until everything is done, although a 100 percent fulfillment rate could be impossible because of some trucks that are not running anymore.

"Customer satisfaction is paramount, and we are well aware that customers in the Korean market were disappointed," he said. "Rest assured, we will do our utmost to get this trust and confidence back."

But at the same time, Hemmerich indicated that MAN will not give any preferential treatment to truckers who keep filing complaints about the recalls.

"Definitely, however, most importantly, everybody is going to be treated exactly the same way based on the recall," he said. "This is the key parameter for us treating all the customers in the same way with a full and comprehensive recall."

MAN's eTGX electric truck / Courtesy of MAN Truck & Bus

Strategies for self-driving, electrification

While solving the problems of the past, MAN is also preparing for the future.

Fredrich Baumann, one of MAN's executive board members, said that the company has been investing in autonomous driving, regarding the technology as a solution to the shortage of truck drivers globally.

"We have participated in several pilots in managed environments in which it's easier to test these type of technologies," he said. "We have received the authorization to run it on specific highways within Germany."

Earlier this year, German Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing and MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp took the first test run without interfering with the autonomous driving technology.

"We will further invest into this technology, but I cannot and will not give you any date by when we will see that this technology will be introduced into the marketplace," Baumann said.

He also said MAN will show the entire breadth of the portfolio on battery electric vehicles, as well as hydrogen combustion engine vehicles, at the International Motor Show Germany (IAA) in Hanover in September.

"We would love to introduce the vehicles in Korea, as soon as there is an infrastructure that allows the customers to operate those vehicles in Korea," he said.

However, Baumann said he believes that batteries cannot replace diesel, unlike hydrogen combustion engines.

"If you were, for example, to take an agricultural tractor for the needs that you have during the season, you would need 35 battery packs to make it work," he said. "We are discussing how we can utilize hydrogen in a combustion process to replace diesel technology in the future."

In response to the rapid growth of Chinese electric bus makers, Baumann admitted MAN is competing fiercely with their low-cost e-buses especially in the city bus segment. However, he emphasized that MAN has defeated its Chinese rivals through the high level of individualization of city buses within the different municipalities and cities.

"Last year, the MAN brand has become the No. 1 in e-bus city bus applications in Europe with several countries where we are the No. 1," he said. "The uptime of these city buses is a critical factor for many of our customers and they have seen and realized that our solutions meet their needs when it comes to reliability of the vehicles and longevity of the battery packs."