MAN starts production of Lion’s E electric buses in Turkey

E-bus production in Ankara (Photo: MAN Truck & Bus)

MAN Truck & Bus has started production of the MAN Lion’s City E city bus at its plant in Ankara, Turkey.

The new assembly location joins the existing plant in Starachowice, Poland, which has been producing the battery-electric buses since 2020.

MAN is also producing the Lion’s Explorer E at the Olifantsfontein (Turkey) location. Examples of this bus will be shipped to South Africa.

MAN stated that adding the Ankara location to its e-mobility network will help respond to ‘steadily growing demand’ for zero-emission buses.

“With the launch of e-bus production in Ankara, we are setting a significant milestone on our path to electromobility,” said Barbaros Oktay, head of Bus at MAN Truck & Bus.

“We are expanding our production capacities, strengthening our global bus network, and can meet rising customer demands even faster and more flexibly. Ankara will play a key role in our e-mobility strategy going forward.”

To support production, the Ankara plant has been modernized to feature optimized production processes to support electric vehicle production. Employees have also been trained on how to work with the vehicles.

“Ankara is developing into one of MAN’s central e-mobility hubs. Thanks to our flexible production structure, we can manufacture both various electric bus models and conventionally powered buses on the same production line. This enables us to respond efficiently to different market requirements,” said Mehmet Şermet, head of Production Bus at MAN Truck & Bus.

In other electric vehicle news, the company’s Polish plant is now gearing up to start production of the MAN eTGL light-duty electric truck. The eTGS and eTGX have been built in Munich, Germany since 2025.