DAF Trucks Ltd of Haddenham, UK reported it retained its dominant position in the UK truck market for the 24th year in a row, ending 2018 with registrations of 11,373 vehicles to give it a 27.2% share of the market above 6.0 tonnes gross vehicle weight; these registrations and market share was according to Robin Easton, managing director of DAF Truck UK, speaking ahead of the CV Show in Birmingham last month. DAF’s sales, however, were in fact down compared with 2017, which saw it register 13,301 trucks and hold a market share of 29.5%.

Easton said the UK truck market overall fell for a second year in a row to 43,103 units, which was down by 4.3% from 45,045 units in 2017. (Registrations in 2017 fell by 2.6% from 46,231 in 2016). Easton added that DAF had experienced lower registrations at the beginning of 2018, due in part, to operators delaying some of their 2017 orders to await the introduction of the new LF and new CF multi-wheel configurations in the autumn. This was exacerbated by a slow down across the truck market at a time when registrations had been traditionally high. However, DAF Trucks enjoyed an extremely strong order intake, thereafter, predicting this high performance would continue into the first half of 2019. Easton added that in the 12 months to December 2018, DAF Trucks enjoyed its highest order intake for its trucks since 2007, with 14,848 vehicles ordered.