Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN SE Hakan Samuelsson and Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Uzavtosanoat Ulugbek Rozukulov on 4 September signed the agreements on founding the joint venture company MAN AUTO-Uzbekistan.
Under the agreement, MAN Nutzfahrzeuge holds 49% of shares in the joint venture, while Uzavtosanoat holds 51% and thus bears responsibility for management of the new company.
The joint venture will import components for heavy trucks from the MAN TGA and CLA ranges from Germany and India respectively into Uzbekistan, where they will be assembled. Production of 500 to 1,000 vehicles per year is planned. The trucks will be sold and serviced via a network of independent dealers.

"We are pleased to have found in Uzavtosanoat a partner who knows the markets of Central Asia well and is competent in the production and sale of commercial vehicles. For MAN this commitment in Uzbekistan is a further example of our international presence in new markets," said Hakan Samuelsson at the signing of the agreements. He went on to add that partnerships in economically thriving regions are essential to MAN's future alignment.

Uzbekistan is aiming to spur on the expansion of its own transport industry. "We are firmly convinced that our partnership with MAN will be successful. MAN's technologically mature and robust vehicles exactly match the demands of customers in Uzbekistan and surrounding markets. Central Asia's markets are buoyant," said Ulugbek Rozukulov, underlining the prospects for the MAN AUTO-Uzbekistan joint venture.

Based in Munich, Germany, the MAN Nutzfahrzeuge Group is the largest company in the MAN Group and one of the leading international providers of efficient commercial vehicles and innovative transport solutions. In fiscal year 2008 the company, with some 36,000 employees, generated a turnover of 10.6 billion euros with sales of more than 96,000 trucks and over 7,200 buses and bus chassis under the MAN and NEOPLAN brands.