Karl Bernqvist has been appointed as the new Chief Purchasing Officer at TRATON and will also join the Executive Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE, where he will be responsible for procurement. He takes over from Murat Aksel, who is stepping down from his position effective October 31, 2025, following a mutual agreement with the Supervisory Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE and the Board of Management of TRATON SE due to differing views on the company’s future strategy.
Christian Levin, CEO of the TRATON GROUP and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE, said: “We are delighted to welcome Karl Bernqvist, a proven expert in the commercial vehicle business and the various entities of the TRATON GROUP, to our Truck Board. With his experience in different brands, regions and cultures, he will make an important contribution to TRATON’s transformation and help to further expand our group-wide supply chains. I would also like to thank Murat Aksel, who has been instrumental to the turnaround of MAN Truck & Bus and the transformation of the TRATON GROUP. We wish him all the best for the future.”
Alexander Vlaskamp, Chairman of the Executive Board of MAN Truck & Bus SE, commented: “We welcome back Karl Bernqvist at MAN who brings many years of experience in procurement – within Volkswagen, TRATON and several other brands within our group. We will benefit from this broad foundation in the challenging times of strained supply chains. At the same time, I am grateful for Murat’s collaboration during the past years. He joined MAN Truck & Bus in difficult times and has made a significant contribution to MAN’s improved financial performance with establishing competitive and resilient supply chains. I wish Murat Aksel all the best and every success for his future career.”
Bernqvist returns to familiar ground with this appointment. Since 2020 he has overseen Procurement as a member of the Brand Board at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) in Hanover. His previous roles include serving as Managing Director at Global Truck & Bus Procurement in the United States—a joint venture between TRATON and Navistar that is now known as International Motors—and holding senior purchasing positions at both MAN Truck & Bus in Munich and Scania CV AB in Sweden and Brazil. He began his career at Scania as a management trainee in 2001.
