MAN Truck & Bus Tuesday announced an important milestone with the company celebrating 100 years of commercial vehicle manufacturing. This year also marks the 30-year anniversary of MAN Truck & Bus’ association with its valued importer Haji Husein Alireza & Co. Ltd. (HHA) in Saudi Arabia.
Top officials from both companies gathered at events throughout the country to mark the occasion and celebrate their association in the presence of employees, partners and prominent customers. Both MAN and HHA also celebrated another significant milestone with the 10,000th truck built at Saudi Automotive Manufacturing Company (SAMCO). The SAMCO Jeddah Assembly plant, which opened at the start of 2009, has been an important pillar of MAN’s Middle East growth strategy.
Speaking on the occasion, MAN Truck & Bus AG Board Member for Marketing & Sales Heinz-Jürgen Löw said, “Today, we celebrate 30 years of partnership with Haji Hussein Alireza & Co. Ltd who are one of our oldest partners in the Middle East. The expertise and high customer orientation of HHA is reflected by the large established customer base built over the last 30 years and the excellent service infrastructure including the No. 1 rated workshop in the MEA region at Jeddah. I would like to thank HHA for 30 years of excellent partnership, based on trust and professional cooperation.”
Low added, “It also gives me great pleasure to mark the milestone of 100 years of commercial vehicle business at MAN. The growth in public transport projects and the expansion of the logistics industry in Saudi Arabia points to enormous potential and possibilities for MAN and HHA. Along with HHA, we look forward to shaping the future of mobility into the next century.”
According to Sheikh Ali Alireza, managing director of HHA, “Our partnership with MAN Truck & Bus has been wonderful and together, we have created a solid foundation for continued success in the kingdom through our unrelenting efforts to support our customers with the best products, excellent service infrastructure and a memorable customer experience. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our valued customers for their loyalty over the years. This is indeed a momentous occasion and a time to look back and reflect while also looking ahead to a brighter future where we rededicate ourselves to our customers and enhancing their business through our products and services.”
Franz von Redwitz, the new managing director of MAN Truck & Bus Middle East said, “It is a proud moment for MAN and a significant milestone in celebrating 100 years of commercial vehicle manufacturing including our 30 years of association with Haji Husein Alireza Co (HHA). Our journey over the years and our success here in Saudi Arabia would not have been possible without the exemplary support and partnership of our valued distributor Haji Husein Alireza Co who have contributed to creating a sterling reputation for MAN vehicles. I would like to build on this solid platform and enhance our presence in the kingdom through our industry leading products in order to be a preferred transportation partner for our customers.”
The development of resource-saving and environmentally friendly vehicles has always been one of the main goals of MAN Truck & Bus. Euro 6, the latest exhaust gas standard was a challenge that MAN met in 2012 with its latest generation of TG vehicles. In the autumn of 2014, MAN introduced the latest engine generation, the D38, which is currently the culmination of 100 years of engine development in commercial vehicles.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) and biogas are already available as alternatives. Engines suitable for CNG can also be operated with biogas in an almost CO2-neutral manner. An example is the new Lion’s City GL CNG natural gas articulated bus, which won the “Bus of the Year 2015” award. The established range of natural gas city buses will be supplemented by trucks with a CNG drive in 2016.
MAN’s developers are already working on vehicles that no longer need a driver for certain activities, for example when a safety vehicle secures motorway building sites. MAN Truck & Bus will use these and completely new ideas to ensure sustainable development of ultra-modern business vehicles in the future.
