TORSUS And MAN Truck & Bus Expand Cooperation With New Chassis Manufacturing Agreement For World’s Toughest Off-road Bus

TORSUS, manufacturers of the world’s most challenging, heavy-duty off-road buses, has announced the growth of its continued cooperation with MAN Truck & Bus, following an agreement for MAN Truck & Bus to manufacture the TORSUS PRAETORIAN’s skeleton chassis.

TORSUS has collaborated closely with MAN Truck & Bus since 2017 to develop the PRAETORIAN – the world’s most capable off-road bus.

As the centre of excellence in bus manufacturing, MAN Truck & Bus’ 300,000 square-metre, state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing facility produces some of the world’s most innovative buses. With a 2,700-strong, highly skilled workforce, each TORSUS PRAETORIAN skeleton made at the site will be carefully crafted to ensure it meets all their customers’ needs, wherever they are in the world.

Yulia Khomych, Chief Strategy Officer at TORSUS, said: “We are incredibly proud to build on our longstanding relationship with MAN Truck & Bus for our flagship vehicle, the PRAETORIAN. Since 2017, we have been working very closely with them to develop the world’s most challenging off-road bus, and we are delighted to continue our cooperation with this new agreement.

“MAN Truck & Bus are the experts in producing high-quality buses and coaches of all kinds, and the skeleton chassis they will build for our PRAETORIANs will be stronger and stiffer than ever. We couldn’t wish for a better collaboration partner to develop the best heavy-duty off-road bus.”

Using similar processes and techniques to those used in the manufacturing of its buses, MAN Truck & Bus use protective gases during the precision welding process of the PRAETORIAN’s skeleton before it undergoes cataphoretic painting for protection against corrosion, then varnishing, and finishing with a final coat of paint. This ensures that the product is of the highest quality possible when it leaves the factory before heading to TORSUS’ purpose-built factory in Horné Srnie, Slovakia, for final assembly.

Designed to transport up to 35 people and their equipment safely across the world’s harshest environments, the PRAETORIAN is a 10-tonne 4×4 off-road bus based on an upgraded, heavy-duty MAN TGM chassis.

It is powered by a 6.9L six-cylinder MAN diesel engine with 286bhp and 1,150Nm of torque and a heavy-duty 4×4 off-road transmission – sufficient for the bus to easily climb a 65 per cent incline. The PRAETORIAN is engineered to master any terrain, in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world.

The MAN Truck & Bus Starachowice plant produces over 1,600 buses and 520 bus chassis a year, exported to customers in countries worldwide, including Germany, France, Georgia, Norway, Sweden and Saudi Arabia.