Key Points
- CME at MAN now starts alongside exterior, interior and HMI, merging tactile and digital for one coherent experience.
- Use cases drive CMF: long-haul (comfort, live-in wear), distribution (fast turnarounds), traction (robust, dirt-forgiving surfaces).
- Material selection balances hard specs: UV, abrasion, fire, cost, with visible signals of lower impact (fewer coatings, mono-materials, recyclability).
- Discovery mixes close supplier partnerships, Group knowledge-sharing (Audi, Porsche, Scania, etc.), and trend scouting; one brief aligns all vendors.
- Future focus: lighter fibres, simplified constructions, repairable parts, and expressive lighting, tested first in limited “Individual LION S” editions.
Full interview with MAN Truck & Bus
You’ve been working with MAN Truck & Bus for nearly eight years. How has your understanding of materials evolved in that time? Are there any standout learnings that shaped your approach to CMF in the commercial vehicle sector?
When I started working at MAN Truck & Bus, I came from a premium car manufacturer. In other words, the contrast could hardly have been greater. At that time, trucks were primarily work equipment. The functions and durability that the vehicles had to fulfill were much more important. Design and emotionality were not yet very much in focus.
With our current TG3 truck generation, we have already changed our brand significantly. The design, design quality, and user-friendliness are no longer far removed from the automotive level. Nevertheless, with the CMF design in particular, we have clearly recognized that the use cases of our users have different requirements than those of car drivers, who often only travel short distances. Our three different areas are Longhaul, Distribution, and Traction.
The long-haul driver uses his vehicle 24/7. The driver not only works in the truck but also lives in it. Many truckers even take off their shoes to keep the interior nice and clean. Feeling comfortable in the truck is an important factor here. Distribution transport is characterized by high time pressure, with many stops, often in urban environments. In the traction sector, the robustness of the materials is important. If possible, the colors should be as forgiving of mud and dust as possible.
In these three very different sectors, the requirements for the choice of colors and materials vary greatly. We try to take into account the costs, variants, and functions. We aim to create working and living environments that are as suitable as possible for all use cases and markets.
CMF in trucks isn’t often in the spotlight, what drew you to this field, and what do you find most creatively fulfilling about working with heavy-duty vehicles and utility surfaces?
What I find exciting about CMF Design is the incredible complexity in thinking and working that it requires.
On the one hand, you have to be incredibly creative, the design part of the job. On the other hand, you need a wealth of experience in a wide range of technical manufacturing processes and material properties, the technical components of the job. You are in constant dialogue with all kinds of departments, from Purchasing and Sales to your suppliers, as well as internally within Design with the Interior, Exterior, and UX Designers. In other words, a high level of communication is required.
For me, commercial vehicles have a deeper meaning than just getting from A to B in style. They keep life going and provide society with all the necessary goods.
Over the past eight years, our team has worked hard to change the fact that CMF is often not in the spotlight. For example, we have supported our E-Mobility campaign with highly visible CMF concepts in the media, gaining a lot of attention and recognition for the MAN brand. We are extremely visible in design communication. For me, this combination of different areas of responsibility is extremely exciting.
Alternative drive systems, automation, and AI are bringing many new perspectives every day. I would definitely say that my job is very fulfilling.
As Lead CME Design, you're responsible for the optical surface treatment of all visible design parts. Can you walk us through how this role has evolved and what areas (interior vs exterior) pose the most interesting material challenges?
Interesting question, as I also think the role of CMF Design is undergoing a big change.
When I started working in design, color and material were often the little sister that came at the end, when the geometric design of the interior and exterior was almost finalized. It was allowed to come in with color and fabrics to give everything the finishing touch with a kind of ‘beautiful living’ glow.
At MAN Design, we now work with four equal pillars that start together, create a holistic image of the product, and are closely linked to each other. The HMI design/ergonomics, the interior and exterior design are in daily dialogue with CMF design. We try to merge analogue, haptic areas with digital display surfaces in terms of design and create meaningful connections.
In the course of this, we renamed our department from CMF to CME. Colour Material Design was given an ‘E’ for Experience. Since then, everything we perceive, see, feel, smell, etc., has been under our responsibility.
One topic that we have put a lot of love into recently is the interior light concept of our new truck generation. The biggest material challenges are the choice of materials for the seat covers, as they determine the CMF design of all the other textiles in the truck. The exterior launch colors are always a big issue, as many people and departments are involved in the event planning. And, of course, there’s the topic of sustainability in material developments and many exciting innovations.
Material choices in trucks must meet very specific performance criteria: durability, UV resistance, cost-effectiveness. How do you balance these functional demands with aesthetic, sustainability and branding goals?
That is correct and an important difference compared to the car industry.
Our drivers are in the cabs 24/7, and the materials have to withstand much more. This means that we involve our material testing, technology, and purchasing departments from day one when selecting seat textiles, for example. When we start a project, we analyze the trends across the entire industry and focus on those that work particularly well with our brand.
With CMF design, we have decided to make sustainability visible in a smart way while simultaneously fulfilling the functional requirements of our products. The fine art is to create an aesthetic that evolves in a modern way and will continue to function well in the future. All these decisions are always made with a healthy number of variants in mind and in close dialogue with our sales team.
How does your team at MAN typically discover and select materials? Is it more about building long-term supplier relationships, internal R&D, or do you actively scout new materials through fairs, digital platforms, or cross-industry inspiration?
I think the question provides a pretty good answer in this case. A combination of everything is the optimum solution.
A very close supplier relationship is absolutely key for me because they have a perfect overview of what the industry is doing, what innovations it is working on, and where future developments are heading.
We start with a CMF design briefing, which we have deliberately made the same for all suppliers for the current project, regardless of whether they supply us with plastics, textiles, lacquers, or graining. As a result, we were able to create the desired design unity across all processes and components.
In the Volkswagen Group, we have the advantage of being able to draw on a very large network and an almost infinite wealth of experience in all areas. We meet with the CMF design teams of all brands, from Audi and Porsche to VW Commercial Vehicles and Scania, and are very open in our dialogue, especially in the area of sustainability.
The same applies to artificial intelligence and design visualization. Like all designers, we use trade fairs and trend platforms as sources of inspiration.
Through my work as a MAN corporate influencer in the field of tech & innovation, I share a lot of information, especially on LinkedIn. We are now proactively receiving an incredible amount of valuable insights in an ever-growing network, also outside of Car and CMF Design.
Sustainability plays a key role in MAN’s future roadmap. Can you share how that’s reflected in your day-to-day design decisions, whether through bio-based materials, reduced coatings, recyclability, or alternative finishes?
That is correct, and I could say a lot more if my statements were not restricted by confidentiality.
What I can say is that we take a very close look at all material processes. We are trying to reduce materials and their layers and switch to more environmentally friendly solutions. A big lever is limiting composite materials to one materiality in order to ensure recycling capability with so-called monomaterials. MAN has deposit systems that bring components and materials back into the cycle.
There are legal regulations, such as REACH, which set deadlines for the industry to change environmentally unfriendly processes, such as the use of chromium VI. We are happy to proactively go one step further than required.
In customer surveys, we try to understand exactly what our products should look like in the future. Sustainability is definitely an important building block.
Are there any surprising industries or material systems, from fashion tech to marine design, that you’ve found unexpectedly useful and drew connection too, when rethinking CMF solutions for trucks?
In any case, each industry is a small universe in itself and provides us with interesting insights.
Fashion is much faster-moving than we are and can test material innovations for customer acceptance with less effort. The aircraft industry is very similar to us, although fire protection and weight play an even greater role here.
The fact that bus and truck design is created by the same MAN design team means that we can also learn a lot from each other. The truck is much more closely related to automotive design than you might think from the outside. Caravan and home interior design are important areas for us, as our cabins, like mobile tiny houses, fulfill many of the same requirements and have similar areas.
If there were no limit, technical, budgetary, or regulatory, what would your wildest vision be for the future of CMF in trucks? Are there materials, colors, or sensory interactions you dream of exploring in a future MAN vehicle?
Wow, what a great question!
We created a top-of-the-range brand called Individual LION S a few years ago. Here, many of the technical and budget restrictions for us designers come with slightly fewer guidelines. This allows us to cater to special customer wishes. In terms of design, many ideas can be realized in small quantities. We can also test what goes down well with customers and what could later work for the series.
Emotion and pride in the brand play an even greater role here. Special drivers are often rewarded with these trucks, and personalized wishes are implemented.
Nevertheless, there are of course many new innovations, lighting solutions, and real materials that I would like to see in our products, sensors that enable hidden functions or separate the design of the day from that of the night, for example. The great thing is that the design ideas and possibilities are endless, and none of us will ever get bored.
