UK – At the annual media event in December last year, members of the UK press gathered in Oxford for the end of year address from the senior management team at DAF Trucks UK Ltd of Thame, UK (a subsidiary of Dutch truck manufacturer, DAF Trucks NV based in Eindhoven, Netherlands). A noticeable new face grabbed the microphone, the new Managing Director of DAF UK, David Kiss* (who, mid-way through the year, replaced the outgoing Laurence Drake), was on hand to give the keynote speech. Kiss brought to the fore, the challenges ahead, notable milestones and a market update.

Kiss highlighted that DAF remains the UK market leader in the >6-tonne market segment, with a 30.5 percent market share in 2023, compared with 31.5% in 2022. This means that DAF has been the market leader for 29 years, a significant achievement indeed. Looking at the total market size and trends, Q3 2023 was the best quarter for the UK truck market (in terms of new sales) since the start of the pandemic. 11,531 HGVs were registered between July and September 2023, representing a 14.9% improvement compared to the same period of the year prior.