DAF is historically a Dutch company, founded back in 1928 and has made buses, cars and trucks over the years.
There were plenty of ups and downs, but after the low point of bankruptcy in 1993 after a failed run with the UK’s Leyland (remember Leyland DAF trucks?).
Fortunately the company was saved in 1996 after going into administration earlier as it was bought by the US truck maker, PACCAR, which owns the Kenworth and Peterbilt brands. Shortly after, PACCAR also bought the UK based DAF Truck manufacturing business, Leyland Trucks. This meant that DAF trucks for the right hand drive market are all assembled in Lancashire, making DAF Trucks the only UK-based heavy truck assembler.
Since this time, the business has thrived with a straightforward range of three cabs, but thousands of variants – lengths, weights, axle configurations and driveline choices.
Even during the 2020 Covid pandemic the company managed to increase market share in the UK.
Latest DAF Sales Figures
In the latest full year’s figures, released in February 2024, DAF Trucks once again kept the UK market leader title for sales in 2023. However, the market in 2023 was up approximately 13.5% compared to 2021 but DAF’s UK registrations were only up by 6.3% which reduced the company’s market share, which was still over 30%. Why hit DAF’s performance in 2023? It can be partly explained by the roll out of their brand new generation XF and XG trucks that are hitting the streets with their cabs that meet the new dimension regulations. Remember also that all other manufacturers assemble the UK’s right hand drive trucks alongside the left hand drive models for Europe. They therefore have to compete with important home markets for manufacturing line space and scarce components. DAF, on the other hand, have their own dedicated right hand drive factory right her in the UK. This means they have a much greater incentive to keep the metal moving out of this factory, giving DAF greater product availability and potentially shorter lead times than the truck makers assembling in the Euro Zone of Continental Europe.