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| MAN Truck & Bus CEO Joachim Drees speaks during a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel, Thursday. Courtesy of Man Truck & Bus Korea |
By Nam Hyun-woo
MAN Truck & Bus CEO Joachim Drees apologized Thursday for "quality problems" raised by Korean customers over the past year, and introduced a 1 million kilometer warranty program for its trucks with engines meeting Euro 6 standards.
"Korea is a growing market, despite the current market challenges we see, and I can promise we have a long-term focus on Korea and will continue investment in the country," Drees said during a press conference at the Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotel.
"I want to apologize truly for the inconvenience some customers have been facing. I want to say our engineering and production teams will work harder to implement all improvements to keep our customers satisfied."
Drees' visit and apology came after a slew of MAN truck owners in Korea have staged protests over the company's trucks, claiming critical defects in its engines and initial design throughout last year.
They claimed the engines of their trucks rust, brakes get "softened" and the gears "automatically" shift into neutral while driving. Citing these issues, the owners pursued multiple class-action suits against the company demanding compensation.
Upon their protests, MAN Truck & Bus Korea (MTBK) launched a voluntary recall last December on 1,195 dump trucks containing defects in their gearing system, but did not acknowledge that its trucks have defects.
Such a stance continued in the press conference. Drees gave an apology on behalf of the company for the quality issues but said "MAN brand has the best service and industry-leading reliability."
MTBK CEO Max Burger also said the gearbox issue has been fixed after software updates and no customers have raised the issue since.
An MTBK official said "no product can be perfect unless both manufacturers and consumers provide proper care, and we are providing the 1 million kilometer warranty because we are so sure about the quality of our product."
During the press conference, Drees said the German headquarters brought in the warranty program to reassure customers of the company's commitment to the Korean market.
The program will offer "free" services for customers of its trucks with Euro 6-qualified engines until they drive for seven years or 1 million kilometers.
To benefit from the program, however, customers had to purchase a "Profit Check" membership which offers "various maintenance services at attractive prices." MTBK has been providing warranties for power train issues for three years or 450,000 kilometers.
Drees added the company is looking forward to introducing electric buses and trucks in Korea, but it has yet to determine the timeframe because of domestic regulations and road conditions.
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