Page 78 - Demo

Above: One of DAF’s biggest successes in NZ has been its tipper-spec CF85, introduced in 2012. Around 250 of them have since been sold Right: Daily Freight contractor Denis Woodman’s 95XF was one of the
rst two on the road in NZ. It ran a 530hp DAF engine, a ZF synchro manual gerabox and Meritor di s on Kenworth Airglide suspension
in NZ: “I mean, if you look at our main competition in the Euros, which is obviously Volvo – now that’s got some export components, but it’s quite a European truck....
“Whilst that technology is good, if it’s not going to survive screaming across a paddock in South Canterbury carrying 50 tonnes of cows, then it doesn’t really matter does it.
“Over the years we’ve fine-tuned what the factory’s got, to the point where the latest Euro 5 would have to be the best product we’ve ever had from the factory.
“For example, DAF makes a model called an FTD, which is an 8x4 tractor, which doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. The fact we run two different chassis rails – a low one for certain applications and a higher one for offroad clearance – that’s unique to NZ. We have some specific gearchanging software in AS Tronic, to suit our terrain. When we introduced new product in 2007/’08, we did some terrain mapping and gearchange measuring on some set routes – that programme only exists for us.
“Just lots and lots of things like that, which tells us that they look at every aspect of what we do and try and engineer it to suit us as best they can.”
Smart reckons that in the Kiwi market, “we’d like to think
there’s only us and Volvo fighting for it (top honours) among the Europeans. Our only shortfall is that we don’t have that big 600hp, 700hp offering that some operators believe they need for certain applications.”
That’s where DAF’s North American brother, Kenworth, comes in: “We’re fortunate that, if we do need a 15-litre, high-horsepower
offering, we’ve got another product that fits in there quite nicely. The two have always worked very well alongside each other.
“When you put the two products side by side, we like to think we’ve got something for every part of that 23t and above sector.”
Currently the MX-13 engine offering here tops out at 510hp – for both the CF85 and XF105 models. That will, Smart says, go up to 530hp when we get Euro 6 engines – and with torque which he reckons is the equal of other Euro manufacturers’ 560hp or 580hp engines.
DAF has found favour across many applications – including linehaul and metro freight, livestock, logger, tipper and fuel tanker work....and more recently also penetrating into niche areas like readymix concrete agitator trucks and concrete pump trucks.
But, says Smart: “I think one of the biggest new markets we’ve opened was in 2012, when we decided with the factory to build a dedicated 6x4 tipper. We looked at all the bits that we would really want – and we over-specced it enormously.
“We put a 20918 (Roadranger manual) behind a 510 engine.
In a Kenworth you’d run 620hp through that! Big front axle, big tyres, vertical exhaust – worked with all the bodybuilders to find the optimum wheelbase so they didn’t have to do any engineering work.
“That enabled us, because we only have that one spec, to buy in bulk and take it to the market at a good price.
“And over 100 different customers have them. There’d probably be 250 of them on the road. That’s the one that’s upset the Japanese market the most.” T&D
70 | Truck & Driver