Western Star rises in the east
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• Daf Trucks has sold 47 Western Star heavy tractor units to Kuwait Oil Company, under a sales and marketing agreement signed with the Canadian manufacturer late last year.
The $8m deal, announced at Dubai's Commercial Vehicle Show, marks Western Star's entry into the Gulf and a renewed attack by Daf on a traditional market.
In a related deal Daf is to supply Dutch-built Series 95 cab shells, chassis and suspension gear to Western Star's Australian plant at Brisbane where they will be used for Western Star's first cabover range, the Series 1000. About 45% of the Australian market is for european styled vehicles.
The cabs receive Western Star's own trim and badging. A range of Detroit Diesel Series 60 and Cummins Celect computer controlled engines are used, with Eaton gearboxes and Rockwell double-drive axles. Caterpillar engines are planned as a further option.
The cooperation deal, which applies in all markets outside Europe and North America, returns to Daf the low-volume/high-profit bonnetted models which remain popular in countries free of overall length restrictions. Daf ceased production of its own bonneted N-series in 1988 and dropped the Leyland Landtrain shortly after the merger.
In the early 1980s Daf sales fell from 3,000 to 700 units. Today they have stabilised at around 500 units and last year it secured market leadership in Kuwait by shipping in 200 tractive units and selected tippers and tankers toward the close of the Gulf War.
Co-operation has strengthened both manufacturer's positions in the world market.
Daf is struggling following almost three years of deep recession in Europe; the Canadian manufacturer is seeking new customers outside Canada, Australia and the US.