SIMPSON SAYS

OUT TO LAUNCH

Richard Simpson’s reflections on the launch of the New Generation DAF

By Richard Simpson, industry pundit

These are strange times indeed. The reveal of the New Generation DAF was undisputedly the most significant truck launch so far of the 21st Century, and no one was invited. That’s a sad reflection of the way that the Covid crisis has put so much of life on hold both here and abroad.

But watching the launch remotely gave me perhaps more time to reflect than I would have had if I had attended a ‘normal’ international launch. For a start, I didn’t need to worry about getting to the ‘all you can eat’ buffet before the Russians: fail to do that and you will go hungry for the rest of the day. And also, being just alone with the computer screen and my thoughts, I found myself thinking a bit more than normal not about the launch or the product, but rather its significance.

The new trucks are the first to take advantage of reforms to European weights and dimensions legislation that came in last year. Other manufacturers have launched ‘new’ products which could have taken advantage of these, but did not. As a result, those trucks now look distinctly, well, 20th Century, if you know what I mean. The new DAFs are the first of a generation of trucks that look more like they are of the future, than the past. Their introduction also marked something of a personal landmark for me. The first road transport magazine that I ever worked on had the first DAF 95 truck to be delivered to a UK owner-driver on the cover of ‘my’ first issue, and that was in 1988!

The 95, of course, went through all kinds of different iterations: first the Super Space Cab, then the XF, and then the various generations of the XF105. All the while, whenever they were asked why they were sticking with the same basic design of cab shell, DAF’s designers and engineers always explained that the existing cab fitted the dimensional ‘box’ they were legally allowed very tightly, so any new design would either be smaller, or pretty much the same as the original.

All that has changed now, and the new DAFs really are the shape of things to come. But, reassuringly, and in the Dutch manufacturer’s best traditions, there is no change for the sake of change, no ‘experimental’ technology and no expectation that the operators of first generation vehicles will also be the final (unpaid) tranche of development engineers. There’s a redesigned cab, and a new chassis that takes advantage of decades of improvement in material and production engineering, but the improved drivelines don’t contain anything that might take a decent truck technician out of his comfort zone. When it comes to turning the wheels, it’s evolution, not revolution.

And quite right too. Because of all the complex challenges that face the industry at the moment, the most pressing across Europe is the fight to attract, recruit and retain competent drivers. The comfort, space, and ambience of the new generation of extra-spacious DAF cabs is just the ticket for the operator in dealing with today’s recruitment crisis. And, without drivers, trucks are useless.