Taiwan dealer brings Rheinmetall MAN military truck to compete for the army's NT$23bn truck buy

A Taiwanese truck dealer has brought a German military truck to Taiwan to compete for the army's plan to replace its ageing medium tactical trucks. Chih Mao Motor announced on 4 November that it had introduced the TGM-MIL 4x4 built by Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles (RMMV), the military truck venture of Rheinmetall and MAN Truck & Bus, and said it would seek orders from Taiwan's armed forces.

The pitch is aimed at a large programme. Taiwan's 2027 defence budget proposal, sent to the Legislative Yuan on 31 August, set aside about NT$23.34 billion to buy 2,434 new cargo trucks over six years from 2027 to 2032. The army plans to take 1,920 of them for about NT$18.53 billion, with the rest going to other services, and it also plans to build eight steel sheds to store the vehicles.

What the army asked for

The budget documents describe the new trucks as replacements for the medium tactical trucks that entered service from the mid-2000s. Those were built by a team of Navistar International and Taiwan's Sanyang Motor to replace the older US-supplied M35. The army said it wanted civilian-type trucks with high mobility and good camouflage that could be moved quickly to dispersed storage positions, with all-wheel drive, unmarked paint and stronger loading, crane and tailgate capacity.

The army's reasoning, set out in the budget, was that vehicles resembling ordinary commercial trucks are easier to support in peacetime and harder to single out in wartime. The same budget also funds 4,547 light off-road tactical vehicles worth about NT$10.7 billion and 401 hook-loader trucks worth about NT$12.3 billion, UDN reported.

The truck on offer

The TGM-MIL 4x4 is based on MAN's TGM commercial truck platform but fitted for military work. According to the company's figures, it weighs about 6,500 kg empty, carries up to 11,000 kg and has a gross weight of 17,500 kg. A 6.87-litre diesel engine rated at 320 horsepower drives all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and the truck can climb a 60 percent grade and wade through 85 cm of water.

Its military fittings include NATO-standard blackout driving lights that limit light leakage during night-time blackout conditions, central tyre inflation, run-flat tyres and differential locks. The cargo bed has quick-release side panels, a removable canopy and container locks, so one truck can switch between general cargo, container haulage and special tasks. A Liberty Times reporter who sat in the cab found it wider than the army's current medium truck, at 2.55 metres against 2.4 metres.

Chen Tsung-chih, a vice-president in the company's special vehicles division, said the firm had spent about two years working with RMMV to obtain German export approval for a fully military-specification vehicle, and that approval has now been granted. The company plans to open a 2,500-ping repair site, about 8,300 square metres, in Mailiao, Yunlin, on 25 November, and says it would provide training, spare parts and maintenance through its commercial truck service network.

Why it matters

Trucks rarely draw attention, but they move the ammunition, fuel and supplies that dispersed units would depend on in a crisis, which is why the army tied the programme to rapid stockpiling and mobile logistics. The company acknowledged that it must still go through the procurement procedures of the responsible authorities and that any order depends on the military's evaluation. One question for that evaluation is how a military-specification truck built on a commercial platform matches a requirement written around civilian-type vehicles.