Demand for trucks in Poland will be stable
The Polish Association of the Automotive Industry predicts that in 2023 the demand for trucks will remain at the level of the previous period. In 2022, almost 35 thousand vehicles over 3.5 tons were registered in the country, among them more than 32 thousand vehicles weighing more than 16 tons.
The representatives of the MAN Corporation also are still waiting for a decrease in demand for trucks. The traditional situation remains on the market when the supply needs more time to meet customers’ needs. The thing is that the manufacturer develops some trucks according to the individual order, and this increases the term of production. Although the company implements various innovations to reduce waiting time, the average waiting time for a truck is about a year.
As for the carriers, they have a growing demand to buy rolling stock. According to surveys, 46% of carriers plan to buy the equipment by the end of 2023. However, there are also problems with the production of trains. As a result of the geopolitical conflict, supply chains have been disrupted. In addition, MAN had to transfer some of its capacity to other countries, which also caused delays. Currently, the company produces 8 thousand vehicles per month, and losses in production amount to about 10 thousand units.
MAN new strategy
According to statistics from the Polish association PZPM, MAN registered 4,384 trucks in the country in 2022. This is less than in the previous period. As for the middle-class vehicles, the number was 321 units.
MAN plans to implement a new strategy to strengthen its position in the local market and increase production in both directions. As part of this, heavy-duty vehicles will be modernized to make them more economical. Thus, the company intends to equip cars in this class with engines that consume 6 percent less fuel than products of previous generations. In addition, MAN is paying particular attention to arranging the supply of spare parts to avoid downtime and shortages of the necessary components at the plants in different countries.
On the Polish market, MAN is the leader in producing chassis for fire-fighting equipment. Its share is 29%. About 22% of all sales of dump trucks are also by the company, and in the segment of concrete mixers, the manufacturer owns 43%.
Looking at the heavy-duty truck market as a whole, sales in Europe and the UK grew by 5% in 2022. The leader was the UK, where registered vehicles increased by 8% over the year. Poland is in second place with a 6% increase.
