A method and a manufacturing line allow for the manufacture of piston blanks of dimensions close to the final dimensions, which in the course of subsequent finish-machining need only be machined with removal of material to a small degree. A piston shaft of the piston blank is produced by backward extrusion. At least one hollow throat element is already produced at the piston blank by an upset-forging operation. For this purpose, a special forging tool is provided, which, after the manufacture of the piston shaft, takes effect on the piston blank in such a way that at least one hollow throat element is formed at the latest at subsequent forming of the piston base. In this way, a perceptible reduction is achieved in the weight of a piston in relation to conventionally manufactured forging pistons.