Last year might have been one of the toughest in the history of the commercial vehicle industry but DAF says it managed to achieve a record market share.
It took 14.8 per cent of the market for trucks over 15-tonnes in the European Union moving it into third place among European truck builders. Eight years ago it was the smallest of the seven European manufacturers in this segment of the market.
Last year in the 27 countries of the European Union (plus Norway and Switzerland), around 168,000 trucks were registered in the 15-tonne and above class, down almost 50 per cent on 2008, when some 330,000 trucks were registered. The recession hit the tractor segment the hardest. In 2009, this segment accounted for only 48 per cent of the total number of registrations; in 2008 it was more than 56 per cent.
In the UK market in 2009, DAF’s overall market share above six tonnes was 29.8 per cent. In the 15 tonnes and above sector the total share was 27.6 per cent (29.0 per cent of the rigid sector and 26.2 per cent of the tractor sector). In the 6 to 14.99 tonne sector DAF’s market share was 35.4 per cent.
