Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
man magazine<br />
1/<strong>2015</strong><br />
High-tech truck: The new TGX D38<br />
acquired by Tiger-Trans features 560 hp<br />
and highly sophisticated technology.<br />
140 000<br />
kilometres<br />
Wolfgang Müller covers many thousand<br />
kilometres with his truck every year and<br />
frequently under full load. This requires<br />
powerful vehicles such as the TGX D38.<br />
S<br />
haking her feathery pillows vigorously<br />
on this January day, the<br />
fairy tale figure Mother Hulda<br />
probably meant well. Rays of morning sun<br />
sparkle on the snow and the road winds its<br />
way through the distant countryside, akin to a<br />
widely curved strip of asphalt. Bare, knotted<br />
orchard trees form narrow lines, while the<br />
horizon is confined by snow-covered Alpine<br />
peaks reaching for the sky. Wolfgang Müller is<br />
underway in the Lake Constance region and<br />
today covers the distance between Kißlegg<br />
and Meckatz. “This is where other people come<br />
for a holiday,” he observes. The 47-year-old<br />
professional driver transports beverage pallets<br />
to the Meckatz Brewery with his truck of 16.5<br />
metres and 40 tonnes – a job for heavyweights.<br />
Wolfgang Müller has been steering this<br />
brand-new, bright-red TGX D38 for a fortnight,<br />
christening it the “highway baron”. It’s the<br />
flagship of his employer, the beverage logistics<br />
company Tiger-Trans in Neukirch. The<br />
truck is MAN’s latest top model, with Tiger-<br />
Trans being among the first customers to receive<br />
one. “It definitely needed a special<br />
name,” says Müller, “after all, this vehicle of<br />
40 tonnes puts a whacking 560 hp and stateof-the-art<br />
technology on the road.” Performance<br />
and technical sophistication are required<br />
for this job, as the considerable load of<br />
56 beverage pallets finds room on the jumbosized<br />
tractor trailer with dual-level loading.<br />
“This is actually the largest beverage transporter<br />
in its class,” explains Müller. He proudly<br />
reports that driver colleagues repeatedly<br />
ask about his spectacular high-tech rig whenever<br />
he stops at service stations.<br />
“all of our drivers have their own vehicle,”<br />
comments Udo Hunstiger, 46. Together<br />
with his brother Jürgen, he has been managing<br />
the beverage hauler Tiger-Trans since<br />
1989. The company fleet comprises 21 trucks.<br />
In the spring, when beverage demand tends<br />
to experience a seasonal drop, Tiger-Trans<br />
also transports plants from Tuscany and wine<br />
from all over Italy. “In the case of both our<br />
beverage and plant shipments, we practically<br />
Photos: Christian Grund<br />
Powerful: The TGX D38 offers maximum<br />
torque of 2,700 newton metres as fully<br />
available in all gears.<br />
“MAN technology<br />
simplifies life for<br />
us drivers.”<br />
Wolfgang Müller, truck driver with Tiger-Trans<br />
Reliable partner: Wolfgang Müller spends<br />
numerous long hours with his vehicle and<br />
considers the TGX “a brilliant piece of work”.<br />
14<br />
15