Paccar-owned Dutch truck builder DAF has record sales

Rebounds after trying years

EINDHOVEN, the Netherlands - The DAF truck manufacturing company has accomplished record sales and profits last year. Sales figures show revenues of $4.3 billion, up from $3.8 billion in the previous year.

With profits of $360 million over 2005, DAF also saw record net earnings which were up 7.5 percent over the previous year. Last year, the Eindhoven-based manufacturer achieved record production as well: nearly 53,000 units rolled off it’s plant’s assembly lines.

DAF was set up in 1928 as a machine and repair shop by regional entrepreneur Hub van Doorne. One of Van Doorne’s first clients was local manufacturer Philips. Hub soon was joined by his brother Wim. By 1936, the company name had changed to Van Doorne’s Aanhangwagen Fabriek (DAF) to reflect the main business of the factory: making trailers and containers. DAF began making commercial trucks in 1949, and introduced its first passenger car in 1958.

Following the take-over of British truck manufacture Leyland in the 1980s, DAF Trucks fell victim to the collapse of the European commercial vehicle industry in the 1990s. A much leaner ‘new’ DAF company rose from the ashes and was acquired in 1996 by U.S. manufacturer Paccar.