- MAN Truck & Bus Iberia successful at the National Transport Awards 2025 in Madrid
- Jury of entrepreneurs and experts crowns MAN Lion’s Coach as “Coach of the Year in Spain”
- MAN Lion’s Coach impresses with new features from the 2024 model year that ensure even greater safety, comfort and efficiency
- Coach is well received by operators, drivers and passengers: Around 4,500 Lion’s Coach delivered to customers across Europe since market launch
A perfect start to the year for MAN Truck & Bus Iberia: at the National Transport Awards in Madrid in January, the new MAN Lion’s Coach (model year 2024) received the “Coach of the Year in Spain” award. “We are incredibly proud of this award. After all, it shows how well our Lion’s Coach and the constant improvements we are incorporating into the coach are being received by the market and customers,” said Manuel Fraile, Commercial Director for buses at MAN Truck & Bus Iberia, at the award ceremony.
The National Transport Awards are organized by the trade magazines “Transporte 3” and “Viajeros”. The jury, made up of specialists and industry experts from Spain, including numerous managers from public transport and bus companies, presents the award to the best vehicles in twelve categories. “The jury members have precise knowledge of which vehicles inspire companies, drivers and passengers and which buses impress with their reliability, comfort, safety and economy. That’s why the award is so important to us,” summarizes Fraile.
New features ensure greater safety, efficiency and comfort
Among other things, the new features from the 2024 model year, which significantly enhance the coach once again, generated enthusiasm for the MAN Lion’s Coach. With the new electronics platform, which has been used in all MAN and NEOPLAN buses since last year, a completely new cockpit with MAN SmartSelect has found its way into the Lion’s Coach. It is the central point of vehicle operation, meets the highest ergonomic standards and can be operated intuitively.
“This absolute driver orientation and the extended assistance systems ensure greater comfort and safety,” says Heinz Kiess, Head of Product Marketing Bus at MAN Truck & Bus. One of the most relevant developments in terms of safety systems is the radar-assisted turning aid for the unclear right-hand side of the bus, which can be combined with an optional lane change aid on both sides. The new turning aid detects static objects in the lateral area up to 4.5 meters away and also calculates potential paths of movement in advance. This enables the system to assess the situation in advance and, if necessary, issue a visual and acoustic warning in three stages.
MAN Lion’s Coach impresses experts and customers
Another new feature is the MAN D26 coach engine with Euro 6e emissions quality. Despite an increase of ten hp and around 50 Newton meters more torque at the peak, the highly developed 12.4-litre unit now consumes up to 2.5 percent less fuel overall – and makes the Lion’s Coach even more efficient. “Drivers, passengers and operators all benefit enormously from the new features. But even before the new features were introduced, the Lion’s Coach was already one of the most innovative, safest and most comfortable coaches on the market. This has also been confirmed by numerous awards,” explains Kiess.
For example, the MAN Lion’s Coach won the prestigious Sustainable Bus Award 2022 (Sby Award) in the “Coach” category. The efficiency, environmental friendliness and flexibility of the modern vehicle were particularly impressive. International trade journalists from the “Bus & Coach of the Year Jury” also named the Lion’s Coach “Coach of the Year 2020”. In 2018, the coach won the iF Design Award with its timelessly modern design language. The MAN Lion’s Coach is now continuing its success story with the “Coach of the Year in Spain” award.
“In addition to the awards, however, it is above all the orders from our customers that show how well received our Lion’s Coach is both nationally and internationally,” says Kiess. Since its market launch at Busworld in the fall of 2017, MAN Truck & Bus has delivered almost 4,500 buses of the successful model to customers throughout Europe (as of 12/2024). In Germany alone, 721 MAN Lion’s Coach have been registered. This makes Germany the top market, followed by France (605 registered buses), Spain (516), Italy (508) and Poland (273).
MAN success story at the Spanish National Transport Awards
The National Transport Awards were launched over 35 years ago by the trade magazines “Transporte 3” and “Viajeros”. Every year, a jury of more than 800 entrepreneurs from the transport sector and experts from the automotive industry select the best vehicle presented on the Spanish market in twelve categories since the last edition of the awards. The decisions are based on a comprehensive analysis of the safety, reliability, profitability and efficiency of the vehicles. In 2020, the NEOPLAN Sykliner and the MAN Lion’s City E won the awards. In 2022, the NEOPLAN Cityliner Platinum special model and the new MAN Lion’s Intercity LE were voted “Coach of the Year in Spain” and “Bus of the Year in Spain”. One year later, the MAN Lion’s City 10 E received the Spanish award. “Our MAN Lion’s Coach joins a long line of awards that we owe to a highly committed team. But we are also grateful to our customers, who have placed their trust in us and our buses for many years,” says Fraile.
