MAN has confirmed it will restart production of trucks and buses from April 27, following a six-week pause due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

The company will gradually resume production at reduced capacity and has implemented extensive safety measures. These include, among other things, ensuring a wider distance between employees, changing the routing and, where necessary, protective equipment as well as training and instruction of employees.

"In recent weeks, the crisis management team has been working intensively on the conditions under which our plants can be restarted.

“Among the key challenges here are the reliable supply of parts by our suppliers, as well as the organisation of our own work processes while protecting our colleagues, but also measures to stimulate demand for commercial vehicles," said Joachim Drees, CEO of MAN Truck & Bus SE.

"Our suppliers come from all EU countries - therefore we are asking politicians to support us with a coordinated approach at EU level to re-enter the market".

MAN Truck & Bus will continue to fully maintain the service network for its MAN and NEOPLAN brands in order to keep emergency vehicles, supply chains and local public transport up and running. This applies both to MAN's own service companies and to MAN Truck & Bus's partner companies, as long as this is permitted by the authorities in the respective region.

As lockdown measures begin to relax in some parts of the world, other brands are planning to restart vehicle production in May.