1928 - 2008 80 years of innovative transport solutions

With a modern product range, a leading range of services behind the product and a professional dealer network with more than 1,000 sales and service points in Europe, DAF is one of the leading truck manufacturers in Europe. Its position is built on 80 years of heritage. On 1 April 1928 DAF’s founder, Hub van Doorne, started a small engineering business, ‘Hub van Doorne, Machinefabriek en Reparatie-inrichting’. Together with his brother Wim he laid the foundations of DAF as a leading truck manufacturer. And the basis for a rich history characterised by innovative transport solutions.

Hub van Doorne, was born on 1 January 1900 in America – a small village in Limburg, the Netherlands. He was the eldest son of a village black smith. In the mid nineteen twenties, he was foreman in the engineering works of Sjef Mandigers in Eindhoven. There he comes into contact with Mr Huenges, the owner of the Coolen brewery and ice factory who has a Stearns-Knight automobile with a sleeve valve engine. Whenever it breaks down, Hub van Doorne proves to be the only one who can get it going again. Mr Huenges is so impressed by the technical capabilities of Hub van Doorne that he offers help in setting up a business for him. On 1 April 1928 Mr Huenges makes NLG 10,000 available for this purpose.

New activities
The engineering business begins with four employees in a small workshop in a corner of the brewery. The activities focus on welding, engineering and forging work, in particular for the canal boats calling at Eindhoven and for Philips, for which products such as balustrades and bicycle stands were made. Within a year, the first expansion is already a fact and there are 32 people on the payroll. The Great Depression in the nineteen thirties forces the young company, now co-managed by Hub's younger brother Wim, to look for new activities. It is decided to start manufacturing trailers and semi-trailers. In 1933, when electric welding of heavy load-bearing constructions is still in a very early stage, Hub van Doorne and his engineering assistant Mr Baghuis start fabricating complete chassis by welding. The result is a featherweight semi-trailer which attracts the attention of everyone in the trade.

DAF demount trailer
1936. By now, the company’s name has changed to 'Van Doorne’s AanhangwagenFabriek' ('Van Doorne's Trailer Factory'). A unique invention is ready for production: a system which has been specially developed for the loading and unloading of railway containers for intermodal rail-road transport. These containers are about 3 metres long and their laden weight is approximately 3.5 tonnes. With the special trailer, containers can quickly and easily be loaded onto and unloaded from railway wagons and also collected from and delivered to the customer. This makes DAF one of the very first manufacturers of container trailers in the world. In 1935, the company employs about a hundred people, a number that would triple in the next five years.

Start of series production
During the Second World War, DAF seizes the opportunity to prepare itself for the future. The design and production engineering for a new trailer is completed and, more importantly, three prototypes of a real truck are built. In the post-war reconstruction years in the Netherlands there is a great demand for transport equipment. The series production of trailers and semi-trailer starts and the Engineering department works on the first buses, while serious preparations for an automobile factory take place. For the manufacturing of the truck chassis, the first part of a new factory is built on a site along the Geldropseweg, where the DAF factories are still situated today.

The first commercial vehicle
In September 1949, the production of commercial vehicles is started and just over six months later the new factory, with an area of 9,000 m2, begins operations. The range consists of three models: the three-tonne A30, the five-tonne A50 and the six-tonne A60. They are powered by Hercules petrol and Perkins diesel engines. Chassis, brake components and wheel hubs are manufactured in-house. Furthermore, at the RAI European Road Transport Show in 1950, the one-tonne A10 van makes its debut. On the basis of this vehicle, a pick-up truck, the A107, is developed for export. The range of models expands rapidly. Special chassis for tippers and refuse vehicles are introduced and DAF also develops a complete range of military vehicles.

In-house engine production
In 1956, to guarantee the quality of the engines, the company decides to start manufacturing them itself. The engine factory is opened at the end of 1957 and it produces Leyland engines under licence. But DAF soon develops its own versions. DAF is one of the first manufacturers to use a turbocharger on diesel engines for trucks.

However, not just the engines, but also the cabs are being further developed continuously. Initially, when the production of trucks is started, DAF supplies only chassis. The manufacturing of the cabs is left to the bodybuilders. But in 1951, DAF launches its own cab, the first series being characterised by a grille with seven horizontal chrome strips; in 1956 the front is slightly modified and the number of strips reduced to six. On 3 May 1955, the 10,000th DAF chassis comes off the assembly line. Hub van Doorne uses the occasion to announce an order for 3,600 military vehicles and the start of the factory expansion.

‘Mother of international road transport’
In 1957, DAF introduces a new series of heavy trucks, the 2000 range, and in the same year a torpedo-fronted vehicle is launched for specific market segments. A year later in-house production of axles starts, for which a completely new factory is built in the mid sixties at Oevel, near Westerlo in Belgium, where cabs were also built.

In 1962, DAF presents the Eurotrailer, a semi-trailer with integral aluminium body. In the same year, the completely new DAF 2600 astounds the transport world. With a compact design for maximum load length, DAF succeeds in building a modern cab, which can also be supplied in sleeper cab version. The 2600 is nicknamed the ‘mother of international road transport'. This truck ensures DAF’s postion as the market leader in driver comfort for years to come. In July 1964, the 50,000th truck chassis rolls off the assembly line. A year later, the company's founder, Hub van Doorne, retires from 'his' DAF, which has been awarded more than one hundred patents since its founding.

Passenger car
In a relatively short time, the company has gone from manufacturing chassis and buying in many of the components from third parties, to a factory making complete motor vehicles. At the 1958 RAI European Road Transport Show, it even launches its first passenger car, the DAF 600, with a revolutionary fully automatic drive called the Variomatic. This car is later followed by other models, including the 33, 44, 55 and 66, all of them featuring this special transmission. In 1972, Volvo takes a minority stake in DAF’s passenger car division and some years later (in 1975) becomes the sole owner. In total, DAF produces some 820,000 passenger cars.

Tilt cabs
In 1970, DAF introduces a completely new truck generation with tilt cabs (F 1600 - F 2200). This makes engine maintenance easier and less time-consuming. Three years later, a 20 cm wider version of this tilt cab is used for the new 2800, one of the great successes in the history of the company. With its twin-bunk sleeper cab, full-size beds and its powerful 11.6 litre DAF engines, this is the successor to the illustrious 2600. DAF is the first truck maker in the world to use a turbocharger in combination with 'intercooling', as a result of which the engines are able to deliver even more power and torque while fuel consumption stays low. In 1975, DAF launches two entirely new trucks for distribution transport, the F 700 and F 900.

The internationalisation of road transport causes a growing need for service outside the country's borders. Therefore, at the beginning of the seventies, DAF set up ITS, its International Truck Service, which stranded drivers can call upon for fast roadside assistance.

Leading in driver comfort
In the mid-eighties, DAF starts intensive co-operation with British Leyland, which initially results in the supply of Leyland-developed distribution vehicles carrying the DAF logo: the 400 van, but also the 600, 800 and 1000 distribution trucks, later called the 45 series. In 1987, Leyland is taken over by DAF. The success DAF had gained in the heavy-truck segment with the 2800 and later with the 3300 and 3600 is given an extra boost when in the same year the DAF 95 is introduced. The cab of this vehicle had been developed in collaboration with the Spanish company Enasa (Pegaso). Just like its predecessors, the 2800, 3300 and 3600, the 95 could of course also be specified with the extra roomy SpaceCab. For ten years DAF is highly successful with this top-of-the-range model, the 'International Truck of the Year 1988'. In 1989, DAF is floated on the Amsterdam and London stock exchanges. Just like the 95 series, the lighter 65, 75 and 85 series launched in 1992 prove extremely successful.

DAF Trucks N.V.
In the early nineteen nineties, the commercial vehicle market collapses, in particular in Great Britain, the market on which DAF greatly depends. It proves impossible to keep the company afloat. But it doesn’t take long before there is a new DAF. Within a few weeks the new DAF Trucks N.V. is established with a very modern product range. In 1994, DAF presents the 95 Super SpaceCab with even more space and even greater driver comfort. In 1996, DAF is taken over by PACCAR, which gives certainty for the future. PACCAR is one of the world's biggest truck makers, the manufacturer of leading brands such as Kenworth and Peterbilt.

‘Truck of the Year’
In 1997 DAF presents the new 95XF. It is the perfect truck for heavy and long-distance haulage. An international trade jury share this opinion and votes the 95XF ‘International Truck of the Year 1998'. The CF series is thoroughly rejuvenated and on 6 May 1999 DAF delivers its 500,000th truck.

At the beginning of the new millennium, DAF once again introduces important new products. In 2001, production of the new CF series for medium-heavy and heavy haulage and of the new LF series for distribution transport is started. The LF is elected ‘International Truck of the Year 2002’. In 2002, DAF presents the successor to the 95XF: the XF95 with a slightly modified exterior, a lighter chassis, disc brakes, and an optional AS-Tronic automatic gearbox.

The new standard
At the beginning of 2006, DAF starts production of the XF105, the new flagship of the Dutch truck manufacturer. The new top model is characterised by an all-new exterior and interior design, a new chassis layout and the new 12.9 liter PACCAR MX engine, available as Euro 4, as well as Euro 5 versions. The XF105 sets new standards in quality, efficiency and transport performance, as well as in interior design, comfort, ergonomic and driving qualities and is named ‘International Truck of the Year 2007’.

Also in 2006, DAF launches the updated LF and CF series with a completely new programme of PACCAR engines with DAF SCR technology for Euro 4 and 5, an optimized chassis layout and renewed interior and exterior designs. DAF shows its completely updated model programme for the first time at the IAA Hannover in September 2006, where the company also presents a prototype of a hybrid truck based on the LF. The vehicle has a parallel diesel/electric hybrid system, whereby the truck is driven by the diesel engine, the electric motor, or a combination of both, resulting in a significant reduction of fuel consumption and emissions.

750,000th DAF truck
On 19th April 2007, DAF delivers its 750,000th Eindhoven-produced truck, a symbol of the company’s enormous success. Later that year, delivery of the extra clean EEV engines for use by public transport begins. By applying a soot filter to existing engines meeting Euro 5 emission standards for 2009, a further 50% reduction in the emission of soot particles is achieved. Emission values are thereby achieved that were only thought possible with gas engines. DAF once again underlines its leading position in the field of engine development. And to maintain and build on its position, a completely new engine test centre is opened at the end of 2007. Among the most modern in the world, the facility’s test capacity is doubled by adding 20 advanced test cells to 14 existing test units.

At the end of the eighties, around 18,000 trucks are produced in Eindhoven each year; at the end of the nineties this rises to around 25,000. In the first few years of the new millennium, production in Eindhoven reaches almost 31,000 vehicles in 2004 and in 2006 the 40,000 barrier is broken. The company is breaking record after record. In 2007, more than 42,500 medium and heavy trucks are produced in Eindhoven. Moreover, Leyland Trucks in the U.K. produces a further 11,500 LF series trucks and more than 6,000 CF and XF105 series trucks are assembled there, bringing the total production to almost 60,500. Who in 1928 could have foreseen that the basis had been laid for one of Europe’s most leading and successful truck manufacturers?

Innovation
75 years of DAF, 75 years of innovation. DAF has always been known for its smart transport solutions. The DAF demount trailer, which enabled fast and easy loading of containers from a trailer onto a railway wagon, was in the nineteen thirties far ahead of its time as a solution for intermodal rail/road transport. Before that (in 1934) Hub van Doorne and artillery officer Van der Trappen had jointly developed the TRADO: a conversion set for turning a two-axle chassis with one driven axle into a three-axle vehicle with two driven rear axles. In 1969/1970 DAF was one of the first manufacturers to apply tilt cabs, which made engine maintenance considerably easier. The kerb view mirror, which gives the driver a good view of what is going on near the bumper and the front wheel on the co-driver's side of the vehicle, is also a DAF invention. In the seventies, DAF led the field with the so-called high-volume concept. The positioning of the driver's sleeping compartment on top of the cab (Topsleeper) enabled the load length and, consequently, the load volume to be optimised to 120 m3. Incidentally, DAF has several trend-setting cab designs to its credit, such as the 2600 cab launched in 1962, the first SpaceCab introduced in 1985 and the extra roomy Super SpaceCab presented in 1994. At the moment, the XF Super SpaceCab is one of the most spacious cabs on the market.

Engine development
At the end of 1957 DAF opened its engine factory, which soon started the production of in-house developed engines. DAF has always been innovative in engine development. In 1958, DAF was one of the first commercial vehicle manufacturers to introduce the turbocharger for diesel engines. In 1973, DAF was ten years ahead of the competition with the introduction of charge cooling, a development which initially met the demand for higher engine outputs and lower fuel consumption, but which later also proved indispensable in realising cleaner exhaust gases. In the eighties, DAF introduced ATi, Advanced Turbo Intercooling, whereby a further refinement of injection techniques and combustion chamber further reduced fuel consumption and led to higher performance. Today there is no truck-making company in Europe or the United States that does not apply turbocharging and charge cooling. Important in engine development was the introduction of the so-called 9 NOx engines, a hot issue at the 1990 RAI European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam. Soon afterwards, in 1992, DAF was the first to be able to offer a full range of Euro 1 engines and with Euro 2 DAF was again the frontrunner. This was also the case with the Euro 3 engines, which were introduced by DAF as early as 1999 although the Euro 3 requirements did not come into force until 2001. And in 2006, DAF can deliver its complete model programme not only to the necessary Euro 4 emission standard, but also to the Euro 5 emission standard of 2009, once again underlining its leading position in engine development. From 2007, for public transport and from the first half of 2008 for trucks, DAF even delivers EEV engines (Enhanced Environmentally Friendly Vehicles). By applying a soot filter, the emission of soot particles compared to existing engines meeting Euro 5 emission standards for 2009, are reduced by a further 50%, thereby achieving emission values that were only thought possible with gas engines. The 160 hp, 4.5 liter PACCAR FR engine in DAF LF even complies with the EEV standard without a soot filter. To build further on its leading position in the field of engine development, at the end of 2007 DAF commissioned a completely new, ultra-modern engine test center, further extending its existing facilities.