Few vehicles expose the Irish weight rule as neatly as the MAN TGE, because the TGE is not really a MAN at all. It rolls off the same line at Września in Poland as the second-generation Volkswagen Crafter, built by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, sharing the shell, the running gear and the type-approval family. MAN simply bolts on its own grille and badge. Buyers see one van wearing two nameplates and reasonably assume that whatever tax rule applies to one applies to the other. When it comes to Vehicle Registration Tax, that assumption is where the money goes wrong.
One van, three badges
Badge engineering is common in the light-truck world, and the TGE is the clean example: a Crafter underneath, a MAN above, and — depending on the plate — a goods truck or a light commercial for VRT (the commercial side is covered at vrtcommercialvehicle.ie). The three "badges" that matter to an Irish importer are not the marques on the bonnet but the three faces of the same design: the VW Crafter, the MAN TGE, and the weight-class number stamped on each one. Two of those are cosmetic. The third decides the bill. Because the platform is identical, a recovery operator can stand between two TGE chassis-cabs in a British yard, both fitted with a slide-and-tilt body, and find that the tax they owe on registration is worlds apart.
3.180 or 5.180 — the number after the dot is the weight
Read the model designation and you have read the tax. In TGE 3.180 and TGE 5.180, the digit before the dot is the weight class in tonnes: a 3.180 is plated at 3.5 tonnes, a 5.180 at 5.0 tonnes. The number after the dot — 180 — is roughly the engine's horsepower, and it is the same across both. So the only figure that changes the category is the one before the dot.
At 3.5 tonnes the 3.180 is an N1 light commercial in Category B, where VRT is a percentage of the open market selling price — 8% or 13.3% depending on emissions — with a €125 floor. Cross the line and the 5.180 becomes an N2 goods vehicle in Category C, where value stops mattering and the charge is the €200 Category C truck rate. Same shell, same badge, same recovery deck; a different tax regime, settled by a single plated figure.
Why a shared platform doesn't share a VRT bill
The logic that trips people up is the natural one: if the TGE and the Crafter are the same vehicle, surely they pay the same tax. They can — but only if they carry the same plate. VRT category is not attached to the design, the marque or the model line; it is attached to the technically permissible maximum laden mass of the specific vehicle in front of the inspector. A 3.180 and a 5.180 are the same platform, but they are plated differently, so their VRT diverges completely — one taxed on value, the other on a flat rate.
That is why the shared-platform shortcut fails. It is the identical trap that catches buyers cross-shopping a Mercedes Sprinter or the Renault Master, both of which straddle the 3.5-tonne line with a light and a heavy plate under one name. Step up further — to something like a DAF LF in the wider MAN-and-heavy-truck family — and you are firmly in Category C territory, but the rule that put you there is exactly the same one that separates the two TGEs.
Good to know — the plate outranks the platformCategory C follows the plated weight, not the shared design. A 3.180 dressed as a recovery truck is still 3.5 tonnes and still Category B — you cannot inherit the flat rate from the heavier twin. You need a chassis plated above 3.5 tonnes, like the 5.180, for the €200 to apply.
A TGE recovery truck from Great Britain
Because the TGE is built in Poland, a used one bought in Great Britain has a genuine shot at 0% customs duty under the UK–EU preferential origin rules — provided the seller supplies a statement on origin. Where origin cannot be proved, duty on a Category C truck is 22% and on a Category B van 10%, so the paperwork is worth chasing. Here is a 5.180 chassis-cab recovery truck brought in from a British dealer with origin proven:
Example — MAN TGE 5.180 recovery, GB import (Category C)
| Purchase price (≈ 5.0-tonne chassis) | €31,000 |
| Customs duty (UK–EU origin proven) | €0 |
| VAT at 23% on customs value | €7,130 |
| VRT — Category C, flat rate | €200 |
| Tax & duty added at registration | €7,330 |
The VRT is under 3% of the tax you pay to land the truck. Had the same €31,000 gone on a 3.5-tonne 3.180 van, its Category B VRT alone would be €31,000 × 13.3% = €4,123 — before a cent of VAT.
That contrast is the whole point. On the truck side of the line the VRT is trivial and predictable; on the van side it scales with value and can swallow thousands. When you are weighing a purchase, run both plated weights through a calculator before you commit — with a shared platform the temptation is to assume the numbers match, and they rarely do.
TGE variants and category
Where the common recovery-spec TGEs land once the weight rule is applied — with the Crafter equivalents following the same logic by weight:
| Variant | GVW | EU class | VRT category & charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| MAN TGE 3.180 | 3.5 t | N1 | Category B — 13.3% of OMSP (min €125) |
| MAN TGE 5.180 | 5.0 t | N2 | Category C — flat €200 |
| VW Crafter (3.5 t twin) | 3.5 t | N1 | Category B — same logic by weight |
| VW Crafter (5.0 t twin) | 5.0 t | N2 | Category C — flat €200 by weight |
Anything plated above 3.5 tonnes is settled at €200, whichever badge it wears. The only TGE that makes you reach for a valuation is the 3.180 — which is precisely why recovery operators who need real payload specify the 5.180 and take the flat rate as a bonus of going up a class.
Heads up — confirm the plate, not the badgeUK adverts lean on the marque and gloss over the weight class. Confirm the plated figure from the vehicle's type-approval plate or V5C before you budget: a mis-read between a 3.180 and a 5.180 is the difference between a €200 bill and a percentage of the OMSP. There is no CO₂ or NOx charge on either truck category — those apply only to passenger cars.
MAN TGE VRT questions
Is the MAN TGE the same vehicle as the Volkswagen Crafter?
Yes. The MAN TGE and the second-generation VW Crafter are the same van, built side by side on the same line at Września in Poland by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The TGE is simply MAN's badge on the shared platform. For VRT they follow identical category logic — the placement depends on the plated weight of the specific vehicle, not on which badge is on the grille.
What do the numbers in MAN TGE 3.180 and 5.180 mean?
The digits before the dot are the weight class in tonnes: a 3.180 is plated at 3.5 tonnes and a 5.180 at 5.0 tonnes. The number after the dot — 180 — is roughly the engine's horsepower. So a 3.180 is an N1 van in Category B, while a 5.180 is an N2 goods vehicle in Category C at the flat €200 rate.
Does a MAN TGE 5.180 recovery truck pay the flat €200 VRT?
Yes. A 5.180 is plated at 5.0 tonnes, which makes it an N2 goods vehicle in Category C. Its VRT is a flat €200 regardless of what the truck is worth, with no CO₂ or NOx component. Only the lighter 3.180, plated at 3.5 tonnes, falls into Category B and is taxed as a percentage of its open market selling price.