MAN Truck & Bus posted a 35% increase in sales in the UAE last year, the German manufacturer announced in a statement.

“2014 was a very successful year with 35% growth in volumes compared to 2013. With the Government policies prioritizing economic diversification, we see a stimulus for investments which will also have a positive impact on the transport industry,” said Mohamed Razzaqi, Brand Manager of Darwish Bin Ahmed and Sons, MAN’s exclusive distributor in UAE.

The distributor expects growth to continue in 2015, Razzaqi added.

“We have witnessed steady growth in the Middle East region in 2014 and see that in markets where MAN holds the market leadership, we were able to stabilize and even increase this position,” said Franz von Redwitz, the newly appointed managing director of MAN Truck & Bus Middle East.

“We are very satisfied with the performance in 2014 and are looking forward to a very promising 2015 in which we can already see an increase in order intake of 19%,” von Redwitz added.

Commenting on the German truck and bus builder’s performance, the MD outlined two key reasons for MAN’s success in the UAE.

“The first reason is that we have a very good distributor, that we have somebody who is close to the market, who is close to the customers and gives the customers the right support, be it after-sales, be it financing, and all these kinds of things,” von Redwitz told Truck & Fleet ME in an interview.

“The second reason is that we have proven that we are a reliable partner in the region and that our products keep what they promise. We can really fulfill the local market requirements here. We can really deliver to the customer what he needs and our engineers have done their homework and modified all our product range to a state where it really fits the market specifications,” he added.

Although he admits that the Group’s global sales have taken a blow on account of a slump in Russia and Brazil, the firm is positive about the year ahead.

“In 2015, we are looking mainly at two things… We want to grow the business, we want to gain market share.“