MAN Lion's City

The Lion’s City is MAN’s city bus, and it is not one vehicle: MAN publishes ten data sheets under the name, seven distinct body lengths across three drivelines. A release on MAN’s French newsroom dated 18 April 2018 puts the world premiere of the redesigned generation this page describes at the BusDays open house, and says the 12 m variant is about 1,130 kg lighter than its D20-engined predecessor “au niveau de l’équipement” (in terms of equipment; our translation) — a comparison the release ties to equipment, not an unconditional saving.

The figures below are read from those sheets, from MAN’s diesel-, gas- and electric-drive pages and its all-models index, and from three MAN releases. The grid beside this page takes its dimensions, seats and doors from the Lion’s City 12 with the D1556 LOH Euro 6, because a family record has to stand on one variant. Its engine cards list both combustion families — the D1556 from the 12, 18 and 19 sheets, the E1856 from the 12 G, 18 G and 19 G sheets — and its axle note, which is our reading rather than MAN’s notation, covers all ten. The electric variants and the rest of the other nine are described here.

One body programme, seven lengths

Every sheet labels its dimensions row “Length/width/height (max.)”, so each figure below is a maximum. The sheets run 10,575 mm for the 10 E, 12,185 mm for the diesel and gas 12 m buses, 12,200 mm for the electric ones, 18,060 mm for the 18 and 18 G, 18,100 mm for the 18 E, 18,730 mm for the 19 G and 18,750 mm for the 19 — seven distinct figures across ten sheets. MAN’s own all-models index prints the lengths to one decimal place of a metre, which leaves five, and this page follows the sheets rather than the index. Every one is 2,550 mm wide, the maximum Annex I point 1.2(a) of Directive 96/53/EC allows. Maximum height varies with driveline and body: 3,060 mm on the 12 and 18 diesels, 3,055 mm on the 19, 3,295 mm on the gas buses whose cylinders sit in the roof and 3,300 mm on every electric variant, all well inside the 4.00 m of point 1.3.

Length is carried by the wheelbase: 4,395 mm on the 10 E, 6,005 mm on the 12 m bodies, and two figures rather than one on the long ones — 5,200 mm and 6,680 mm on the 18, 18 E and 18 G, 5,870 mm and 6,680 mm on the 19 and 19 G. Front and rear overhang read 2,775 mm and 3,405 mm on all ten sheets without exception. Add the overhangs to the wheelbase and the published maximum length returns exactly on six sheets, falling 15 mm short on the 12 E and 12 E LE, 20 mm on the 19 and 40 mm on the 18 E. That addition is ours; MAN makes it nowhere.

Against Annex I point 1.1, in force in its consolidated version of 14 August 2019, the 12 m buses sit inside even the lowest length it sets for a bus — 13.50 m, for a bus with two axles — and the 19 sits exactly on the 18.75 m allowed for an articulated bus. MAN calls the 18 E an articulated bus in its 2020 sales-launch release; the 18, 18 G, 19 and 19 G print the same two-wheelbase row, and reading those as articulated too is ours, though point 1.1 leaves no other category open to a single bus of 18,060 mm. No MAN document opened for this page prints a wheel formula, so neither does this page; the notation is set out under axle configurations.

Three drivelines on one body

The same body takes a diesel, a natural-gas engine or a battery-electric drive, each on its own sheet. What makers’ sheets and EU law say about each driveline in general is under city bus propulsion.

The diesel D1556 is a 9.037-litre six-cylinder in line, offered at three steps on the 12 m bus — 206 kW with 1,200 Nm, 243 kW with 1,400 Nm and 265 kW with 1,600 Nm — and at the upper two only on the 18 and the 19.

The gas E1856 is a 9.514-litre six on natural gas and biogas: 206 kW with 1,200 Nm and 235 kW with 1,400 Nm on the 12 G, 235 kW alone on the 18 G and 19 G. Its type 4 cylinders hold up to 1,875 litres in the roof for a range MAN gives as up to 500 km.

Both take the same six-speed automatic, and the sheets designate both Euro 6 without naming a step within it; the steps are set out in what Euro VI and Euro 7 require. Both are also offered with MAN EfficientHybrid, for which MAN’s diesel- and gas-drive pages print a table: a 48 volt Ultra-Cap store of 40 Wh, an air-cooled crankshaft starter generator rated 12 kW and 220 Nm, and 170 kg added.

MAN’s diesel- and gas-drive pages describe the same set of driver-assistance and safety systems for the Lion’s City, though under different headings — “Safe on the road” on the diesel-drive page, “Safety is the better part of valour” on the gas-drive page: MAN OptiView, a digital mirror-replacement system whose exterior cameras stand in for the mirror arms and widen the field of view; MAN Traffic Sign Detection, which reads the applicable speed limits and warns the driver when speeding; MAN Turn Assist, which watches the co-driver’s side for turning hazards and warns through a three-stage LED band in the A-pillar; Electronic Stability Programme (ESP), which intervenes against oversteer, understeer and rollover; and Electronic brake system (EBS) & MAN BrakeMatic, which the pages credit with stability under emergency braking and a constant speed downhill. Neither page marks any of the five as standard or optional, so this page does not either.

The electric variants

The Lion’s City E replaces the engine and gearbox rows with a single-stage adapter gearbox and lithium-ion NMC packs on the roof, which, MAN says, frees space that would otherwise be taken up by the engine tower. The 10 E, 12 E and 12 E LE are rated 160 kW continuous and 240 kW peak; the 12 E and 12 E LE add 2,100 Nm and the 10 E’s sheet carries no torque row at all. The articulated 18 E is 267 kW continuous with 3,500 Nm, on what MAN calls two driven axles and two electric central motors.

Capacity is modular and MAN states the trade-off outright: more packs means more range, fewer means more passengers and a shorter charge. Battery capacity on the sheets runs up to 356 kWh on the 10 E, up to 445 kWh on the 12 E LE, up to 534 kWh on the 12 E and up to 712 kWh on the 18 E. MAN’s electric-drive page gives the pack count behind those figures: the 10 E with four packs at 356 kWh, the 12 E with four, five or six packs from 356 to 534 kWh, and the 18 E with six, seven or eight packs from 534 to 712 kWh. Charging is by cable or pantograph at up to 150 kW, with a full charge in two and a half to five hours. How MAN describes timed charging and preconditioning with its eManager is set out in Electric Bus Depot Charging and Preconditioning.

Those figures sit in the record’s notes rather than the grid, so that the grid does not show a 9-litre diesel beside a 534 kWh pack.

MAN’s electric-drive page describes the 10 E, citing its compact dimensions and its 17.2 metre turning circle, as “the ideal solution for narrow roads in urban regular service” — its own words, repeated here once and attributed.

Doors and seats, and what the seat row counts

Doors are a tick matrix rather than text: the 12, 12 G, 12 E and 10 E are ticked 2-door or 3-door, the five long bodies 3-door or 4-door, and the low-entry 12 E LE 2-door only. How door counts meet exit requirements is set out under bus doors and emergency exits.

Seats run 33 on the 10 E, 37 on the 12 and 12 G, 44 on the 12 E and 12 E LE, 49 on the 18 and 18 G, 53 on the 19 and 19 G and 60 on the 18 E. On the English electric sheets that row reads “Passenger capacity”, while the German sheets label the identical row “Max. Sitzplätze”, maximum seats, exactly as the English combustion sheets do. It is a seat count, and this page reads it as one. No data sheet carries a standing figure. Two exist in MAN releases and neither describes the range: the UITP Summit release of 11 June 2025 gives 27 seats and 54 standing places for one exhibited two-door 10 E, which is a configuration rather than a model figure, and the release of 13 May 2020 gives an “up to 120 passengers” total for the 18 E of that time.

No MAN document opened for this page ties any Lion’s City to a UN Regulation No 107 class. The only class statement is on the electric-drive page, which calls the 12 E LE suitable “for both urban transport (class 1) and for regional transport in surrounding areas (class 2)”; it is not a type-approval statement. The classes are set out under bus classes and bus accessibility.

Source notes

The dimensions, seats and doors above are the MAN Lion’s City 12 with the D1556 LOH Euro 6; the engine list covers both combustion families, the D1556 from the 12, 18 and 19 sheets and the E1856 from the 12 G, 18 G and 19 G sheets, and the axle list, this site’s reading rather than MAN’s notation, covers all ten variants. The Euro 6 in both engine designations is the combustion sheets’; the electric sheets carry no Euro designation. Nine more variants share the programme. The diesel D1556 is offered at three power steps on the 12 m bus — 206 kW with 1,200 Nm, 243 kW with 1,400 Nm and 265 kW with 1,600 Nm — and at the upper two only on the 18 and the 19. The gas E1856 runs on natural gas and biogas at 206 kW with 1,200 Nm and 235 kW with 1,400 Nm on the 12 G, and at 235 kW alone on the 18 G and 19 G; MAN gives its type 4 roof cylinders a capacity of up to 1,875 litres and a range of up to 500 km. Both combustion families take the same 6-speed automatic and both are offered with MAN EfficientHybrid, whose own table gives a 48 volt Ultra-Cap store of 40 Wh, a crankshaft starter generator of 12 kW and 220 Nm and an added 170 kg. The battery-electric variants are a separate driveline and are not in the grid above: a single-stage adapter gearbox, lithium-ion NMC packs on the roof, 160 kW continuous and 240 kW peak on the 10 E, 12 E and 12 E LE, with 2,100 Nm on the two 12 m variants and no torque row at all on the 10 E sheet, and 267 kW continuous with 3,500 Nm on the articulated 18 E, which MAN describes as having two driven axles and two electric central motors. Battery capacity on the sheets is up to 356 kWh on the 10 E, up to 445 kWh on the 12 E LE, up to 534 kWh on the 12 E and up to 712 kWh on the 18 E; charging is by cable or pantograph at up to 150 kW, with a full charge in two and a half to five hours. Up to 380 km for the 12 E LE, 500 km for the 12 E and 460 km for the 18 E each carry a marker to MAN’s sheet footnote making them vehicle configuration and favourable-conditions figures rather than rated ranges; MAN’s electric-drive page instead footnotes its 500 km and 460 km “According to SORT (Standardised On-Road Test) but with air conditioning/heating and preconditioned vehicle”, and the two bases are not reconciled here. The English 10 E sheet prints 300 km with no marker, and its own footnote turns on battery usage strategy instead. Two headline figures are contradicted by MAN’s own documents and are left unresolved: the 18 E data sheet gives peak power as 400 kW where the electric-drive page gives 320 kW, and the 12 E and 12 E LE data sheets and the electric-drive page give 44 seats where the all-models page gives 45. The sheets give maximum dimensions: bodies run up to 10,575 mm (10 E), 12,185 mm (LC 12, 12 G), 12,200 mm (12 E, 12 E LE), 18,060 mm (18, 18 G), 18,100 mm (18 E), 18,730 mm (19 G) and 18,750 mm (19), all 2,550 mm wide, and a maximum 3,060 mm (12, 18), 3,055 mm (19), 3,295 mm (gas) or 3,300 mm (electric) tall. Seats are 33, 37, 44, 49, 53 and 60 across the ten sheets. No data sheet or current MAN product page states a gross vehicle weight, a kerb weight, an axle load, a wheel formula or a UN Regulation No 107 class, and MAN gives a turning circle for the 10 E alone. No data sheet carries a standing figure either; the two that exist sit in MAN releases and neither describes the range — 27 seats and 54 standing places for an exhibited two-door 10 E on 11 June 2025, and an “up to 120 passengers” total for the 18 E of that time on 13 May 2020, the release that also gives it “a higher permissible gross weight of up to 30 tonnes”.