MAN extends contract with CTO Zohm

Zohm joined MAN’s board of directors in July 2017 and has been responsible for research and development since then. The MAN e-Truck, which is set to debut and will also be in the spotlight at the upcoming IAA Transportation trade fair, was largely developed under Zohm’s leadership. However, MAN’s chief developer has nothing to say in his employer’s press release.

Instead, other company managers have their own opinions and are full of praise for his work. “Frederik Zohm played a key role in making the development of diesel trucks a great success and at the same time making progress towards emission-free mobility at MAN,” says Supervisory Board Chairman Christian Levin. “He played an important role in consolidating research capabilities under the TRATON GROUP umbrella in order to develop a common modular system for all brands. We look forward to continuing to work with him for the next five years.” Levin not only chairs MAN’s Supervisory Board, but is also CEO of Traton SE and head of Scania at the same time.

MAN CEO Alexander Vlaskamp praises Zohm’s “in-depth technical expertise” and forward-thinking as “a valuable pillar of our work as executive management”. “In addition to the development of the new generation of MAN Truck, which was and is an important factor in MAN’s economic transformation on the product side, Frederik Zohm recognized early on how important the topics of electrification, digitalization and automation would be for the future product portfolio of commercial vehicle manufacturers and prepared the MAN engineering team for the transformation,” continued Vlaskamp. “This has made a decisive contribution to MAN being well positioned today in future technologies.”

The new generation of trucks that Vlaskamp mentions will also be available as eTGS and eTGX, which are fully electric. Equipped with a 480 kWh battery, they should have a daily range of 600 to 800 kilometers – with a charging stop during breaks in the journey.

Before joining MAN, Zohm was responsible for alliance management in the strategic partnership with US truck manufacturer Navistar at parent company Traton. However, he spent many years of his career in competition, in particular at Daimler Group. Since 2006, he has held various management positions at Evo-Bus, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Cooperation and most recently at Daimler Trucks Powertrain.

mantruckandbus.com