[1] In the late 1950s and early 1960s the West German Technical Office for Armament and Military Purchases drew up requirements for a new range (or second generation) of vehicles for the army.

Covering all weight classes and mobility levels, the Bundeswehrʼs second-generation requirement originally called for 62,000 vehicles (of all classes including cars and buses) including four-tonne 4×4, seven-tonne 6×6, and 10-tonne 8×8 trucks; 4×4 and 6×6 armoured amphibious load carriers; and an 8×8 amphibious reconnaissance vehicle.

Along the development trail it became clear that the highly technical vehicles would simply not be affordable as originally specified, so many of the more ambitious 'wish list' features were dropped.

In 1975, the four-tonne rating was uprated to five-tonne while stretching that model’s bed, along with increasing the wheelbase from 4.3 to 4.5 m.[2] In December 1975, MAN was awarded a contract to build 8,385 4×4, 6×6, and 8×8 Category 1 vehicles at a cost of DM 1.4 million; this production total was further reduced to 7,925 in 1979.

[2] Category I vehicles underwent a complete overhaul in the mid-1990s to extend their service life by another ten years, and replacement has only recently begun in earnest.

[3] Introduced as the mil gl (for "militarisiert geländegängig" - military, cross country mobile), the MAN Category 1 series was used by all branches of the Bundeswehr.

The engine is located to the rear of the driver compartment instead of beneath it to keep the overall height below 2.9 m and make the trucks rail-mobile on standard flatcars.

The cab of early production examples does not tilt forward for maintenance because these vehicles were still based on the amphibious prototypes.

[2] The KHD air-cooled diesel engine drives all axles via a torque converter, semi-automatic transmission and a transfer case, these components forming a single unit.

A total of 1,594 Category 3 trucks were delivered to Algeria (280), Ireland, Oman (95), Peru (165), Singapore (104), Venezuela (405), and others including some commercial users.

[1] In April 1985 MAN presented the first of the revised Category I A1 models to the German Federal Office for Military Technology and Procurement (BWB) and to the Test Centre 41 facility.

It was planned that there would be 35 test vehicles of all configurations, including an extra wide 8×8 version for the Patriot and Roland systems.

An initial order for 558 trucks to an amount of around EUR 240 million was placed, including special tools and training support.