MAN has marked 20 years of the Neoplan Tourliner at the same time as revealing details of changes to the driver’s environment and accompanying safety systems and technology for model year 2024.
The Tourliner was launched in 2003. Over 3,850 have been sold since then. Two-thirds of that total is accounted for by the 12m, two-axle model. MAN says that the Tourliner “matured significantly” in its second generation, which was debuted in 2016.
Key to the current iteration at its launch was a reduction in drag over the first-generation Tourliner. That work continued in subsequent years with introduction of the OptiView rear-view camera system, which uses two small external units in lieu of gullwing mirrors.
MAN notes that the Tourliner design concept debuted in 2002 as the X-Liner, complete with fluorescent green paintwork.
Operator feedback on that vehicle was incorporated into the production Tourliner. The first-generation coach accounts for around 2,500 of overall registration numbers, MAN says.
Full details of advancements for MY2024 will be presented in a UK exclusive published online and in the October issue of routeone that explores the short- and longer-term future of the Tourliner. However, most changes relevant to the driver have come about thanks to the EU General Safety Regulation and cybersecurity requirements.
They have led to wholesale revision to the cab and improvements to driver assistance and safety programmes. An updated version of the EfficientCruise topography-based gearshift control programme with greater functionality is introduced. So too is SmartSelect, a twin rotary controller to replace the trademark touchscreen unit.
Outputs of the D26 engine will be boosted by 10bhp and 50Nm of torque for MY2024, to give peaks of 520bhp and 2,650Nm on the strongest of three variants, and a 2.5% reduction in fuel consumption is claimed to accompany those uplifts.
As the upgrade work majors on the cab and items under the skin, styling and the passenger area are unchanged for 2024.
That includes the characteristic forward-sloping B-pillar, which MAN notes debuted with the Tourliner in 2003.
In addition to marking 20 years of the Tourliner this year, MAN points out that 2025 will see the 90th anniversary of the Neoplan brand. It came into MAN’s ownership via the purchase of Gottlob Auwaerter of Stuttgart in 2001.
As part of the 20-year celebrations, MAN will sell the Tourliner in a Diamond Edition, which it says will be of “a particularly high quality.”
