DAF Trucks is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of Paccar. DAF originally stood for van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven.[2] Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium. Some of the truck models sold with the DAF brand are designed and built by Leyland Trucks at its Leyland plant in the United Kingdom.
History
In 1928, Hubert "Hub" van Doorne founded the company Commanditaire Vennootschap Hub van Doorne's Machinefabriek. His co-founder and investor was A. H. Huenges, managing director of a brewery. Van Doorne had repaired Huenges' car several times, and Huenges, pleased with his work, offered to finance him in business. Hub started to work in a small workshop on the grounds of the brewery.
In 1932, the company, by then run by Hub and his brother, Wim van Doorne, changed its name to Van Doorne's Aanhangwagen Fabriek (Van Doorne's Trailer Factory), abbreviated to DAF. Huenges left the company in 1936 and the DAF company was then completely in the hands of the van Doorne brothers.
DAF developed the Trado conversions to convert 4×2 Ford trucks to an off-road 6×4 drive. One of DAF's few armoured vehicles, the M39 Pantserwagen, used developments of this Trado drivetrain. M39 production came too late for World War II – in the invasion of the Netherlands (1940) only three saw combat.
After World War II, luxury cars and trucks were very scarce. This meant a big opportunity for DAF. In 1949, the company started making trucks, trailers and buses, changing its name to Van Doorne's Automobiel Fabriek (Van Doorne's Automobile Factory). The first lorry model was the DAF A30.
Through the 1950s, DAF was a major supplier to the re-equipping of the Dutch Army's softskin vehicles, with models such as the DAF YA-126 and DAF YA-328 Dikke Daf. These used the all-wheel drive H-drive developed from the Trado conversions.
In late 1954, Hub van Doorne had the idea to use belt driven continuously variable transmissions (CVT), like so many belt-driven machines in factories, to drive road vehicles. In 1955, DAF produced its first draft of a car belt drive system. Over the next few years, the design was developed and refined. In February 1958, DAF demonstrated a small belt-driven four-seater car at the Dutch car show (the AutoRAI).
The public reaction was very positive and 4,000 cars were ordered. In 1959, DAF started selling the world's first car with a CVT, the small four seater DAF 600. This was the first of a series of models to be released in subsequent years, including the DAF 33, DAF 44, DAF 55 and DAF 66, all using the innovative Variomatic transmission system.
In 1967, DAF opened a new plant in Born for car production. The 44 was the first model to be produced there.[3]
In 1972, International Harvester of Chicago bought a 33% stake in DAF (with the Dutch government holding 25% and the Van Doorne family holding the remaining 42%), forming a joint venture. This agreement lasted until 1981. DAF sold its passenger car division, along with what is now the Nedcar factory in Born, in 1975 to the Swedish company Volvo Cars, leaving DAF to concentrate on its successful line of trucks.
In 1987, DAF merged with the Leyland Trucks division of Rover Group (which included Freight Rover), and in June 1989 was floated on the Dutch and London Stock Exchanges as DAF NV.[4] The new company traded as Leyland DAF in the United Kingdom, and as DAF elsewhere.
DAF Bus was split off in 1990 to become a part of United Bus.[5] Following difficulties in the British market, DAF NV was placed under administration in February 1993. The Dutch operations were sold in a management buyout, with the business branded DAF Trucks.
In October 1996 Paccar acquired DAF Trucks.[6] DAF Trucks and Leyland Trucks were rejoined in June 1998, when Paccar also acquired Leyland Trucks.[7][8][9] On 9 January 2012, Paccar installed the cornerstone of the new plant in the city of Ponta Grossa, in the state of Paraná, Brazil.
DAF now has a net worth of 1.7 billion dollars.
Car business
The first passenger car, the DAF 600, was presented to the public in February 1958. It featured unitary steel construction, with a front mounted, air cooled two cylinder boxer engine driving the rear wheels through a centrifugal clutch and the Variomatic CVT transmission. The way this was constructed eliminated the need for a differential, with the drivebelts taking up the difference of speed in turns.
This acted as a limited-slip differential. The car had independent suspension all around, with MacPherson struts and a transverse leaf spring at the front, and a coil sprung semi trailing arm design at the rear. The first 600s rolled off the production line in the following year. The next model was the 750, featuring a larger 749 cc twin.
Later, DAF produced a more luxurious type called the Daffodil, divided into three models assigned the numbers DAF 30, DAF 31 and DAF 32. The designation 32 was changed to 33 upon the 1966 release of the 44, a larger middle class vehicle designed by Giovanni Michelotti.
The 44 featured a completely new design aesthetically as well as mechanically, but was of the same layout as the "A types" (the 600, 750, 30, 31, 32 and 33), with the main difference being its 850 cc two cylinder engine, and its full swing axle rear axle design as opposed to the A type semi trailing arms.
The 1968 DAF 55 carried a bigger water cooled 1108 cc OHV four cylinder engine derived from the
Truck business
DAF produced its first truck, the A30, in 1949. This truck was upgraded in the following years. Their first attempt into the international market was a failure, the 2000DO. Their next truck was the 1964 2600, which became a big seller with its well equipped but practical cabin.[13] They also produced a so-called torpedo front tractor.
In the 1970s, a new modular tilting cab called the F218 was introduced on the F1600/F2000 range of vehicles. Three years later, the wider F241, which featured DAF's characteristic three wiper windscreen, was introduced as the DAF 2800. This design lasted until the introduction of the 95 style cab in 1987. There was also a lighter, narrower version called the 'F198 which was introduced in 1972 on the F1200 and F1400, but this short lived model was replaced after only three years. In 1984, DAF truck production was 13,645; this increased to 14,382 in calendar year 1985.[14]
DAF was also one of the first to introduce an intercooled turbocharged diesel engine into their trucks, which in these years became very evident with their 3600. Their largest 11.6 L six cylinder turbodiesel was based on the old Leyland
Motorsport
Cars
DAF cars had the image of being slow. The company tried to change this image with entries in rallies and races, such as their entry in the London–Sydney Marathon.
They were pioneers with continuously variable automatic transmission called Variomatic.
A DAF car was used in Albie Mangle's "World Safari" movie of 1977.[18]
Truck racing
- 1980s: DAF trucks started competing in the Dakar Rally, winning in 1982, 1985 and 1987. In the later years, they competed with a twin engine trucks: the 1986 TurboTwin, the 1987 TurboTwin II and the 1988 X1. The later producing a combined power output of 1220 PS.
- 1988: Two trucks were entered into the Paris-Dakar rally: the X1 and X2.
List of CEOs
- 1965 - 1990 Richard Nagtegaal
- 1990 - 2011 Frans Nagtegaal
- 2011 - present Harry Wolters
Current models
- LF series
- CF series
- XF series
- XG series
- XG+ series
- XD series
- XB series
See also
- DAF NV
- GINAF
- Leyland Trucks
- Leyland DAF
- Pegaso Troner
- VDL Bus & Coach
External links
- Daf Club Nederland Official Dutch Daf and other variomatic cars owners club
- The (official) DAF museum, Eindhoven (site in Dutch) – complete with "DAFeteria" for refreshments
- DAF Oldtimer Truck Club website
- Classic DAF website
- DAF Lorry Information
- UKs Largest DAF Dealer Group
- Commercial Motor – launch of DAF 95 August 1987
References
- Board of Management - DAF Trucks N.V.^
- Daf: Used trucks from Daf - Planet-Trucks.com www.planet-trucks.com, retrieved 2023-06-09^
- Between Initiation and Innovation: Transfer and Hybridization of Productive Models in the International Automobile Industry Oxford University Press, 1998^