5 minute read
Face to Face with MAN’s Göran Nyberg
GORAN NYBERG EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER FOR SALES & MARKETING AT MAN TRUCK & BUS
After a long period with Volvo, Göran Nyberg joined MAN Truck & Bus towards the end of last year as an Executive Board member responsible for all sales and marketing activities across the manufacturer’s product portfolio of trucks, vans, buses and services.
Export & Freight’s Helen Beggs recently caught up with him when he visited MAN’s Swindon headquarters ahead of the Commercial Vehicle show in Birmingham. Originally from Sweden, Göran was the President of Volvo Trucks North America, where he successfully developed the company’s business activities. Prior to this, he held several leading management positions at the Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer’s national companies in Europe and Asia, as well as working for suppliers and dealerships. He took over from Heinz-Jürgen Löw, who was appointed Board member for Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. With MAN branching out from being purely a commercial vehicles manufacturer to become a provider of ‘intelligent and sustainable transportation solutions’, Göran was brought in to help shape this change and drive it further forward.
So, how has he been settling into his new environment?
With MAN being a truck manufacturer, I felt at home immediately and although all companies have a different culture I have been accustomed to that sort of change in my previous employments, I believe I have fitted in well here at MAN. With my feet firmly on the ground now I have
a clear direction of where MAN wants to go, and I want to take advantage of the many opportunities that lie ahead. MAN has a very good business model; last year we delivered, combined, over 100,000 units. Indeed, 2018 was the best year in more than a decade for MAN.
What do you think you have brought to the role?
My long experience at Volvo has to be a huge asset. I have worked in different environments and have successfully driven change in a number
of my past roles. I believe I can help to bring more efficiencies across every market that we are present in, making sure there is adequate support for the network and for our customers.
What is your immediate and long-term goal?
MAN is a German company with international sales, with our main market in Europe, but if we are going to be a truly global manufacturer, we need to expand into other important and relevant markets outside Europe. Only by doing that will we have a truly global footprint, as well as a better balance of our revenue streams from different parts of the world. Of course, there are markets where we have a good solid structure, where we are already firmly established and where we are performing well, but there are other markets where we just need to work better, and I know we will get there; the opportunities to build brand recognition in those areas are great. Coming from the dealer network, being involved in dealerships and the retail operation for 17 years means that customer support is part of my DNA and that is an area on which I am also focusing my attention here at MAN. Last year, MAN recorded its best ever UK and Europe customer satisfaction rate.
What are your targets regarding market share?
Our aim is to be a leader in both the UK and the rest of Europe, delivering a quality service with a quality product. We have a strong product portfolio that now includes vans, as well as medium- and heavy- duty trucks, and, of course, buses, which will help us achieve our market share ambitions.
You want to branch out from being a purely commercial vehicle manufacturer to become a provider of intelligent and sustainable transportation solutions; tell us more about that.
Digitalisation, and connectivity are playing an increasingly important role and developing these areas can bring even more value to our customers. We generate a lot of data from our customers; data is good, but if it is not processed in a good way it can be quite useless. MAN Digital Services, for example, helps customers to use their MAN products more economically, safely and comfortably than ever before, because the digital solutions are tailormade, covering areas such as maintenance management, services for optimising vehicle analysis and performance and services for improving driver performance, all of which helps operators become more efficient and productive. We don’t want to be simply a supplier of trucks, we want to be partners with our customers and providing integrated valueadded solutions is a big part of that strategy, which makes me excited and optimistic.
What are your thoughts on Brexit?
Of course, we are nervous about Brexit. We have a good customer base here in the UK and we are preparing as best we can. Depending on the outcome of Brexit, it might have a negative impact on volumes, but no one can live without transport. There might be difficulties, for sure, in the future but there will always be a demand for trucks. I hope common-sense prevails. MAN brought a number of new product updates to the recent CV show, including the stunning all electric CitE, a vehicle designed specifically for inner-city environment deliveries, the New D15 Euro6d engine, the highly specified Black Lion Edition, the new front wheel drive 3.5 tonne TGE Flatframe Chassis Cowl and a UK converted TGE 17 seat MiniBus. Looking forward there is a new MAN truck generation is in the pipeline. We know very little at this stage but are told MAN will be offering customers innovative and efficient solutions, especially when it comes to long-haul transportation. The first unveil will be in 2020!
