Don’t take our word for it …

Let’s reiterate – Truck Test 2015 was not a competition. No winners were crowned. Nonetheless, the results do not lie … the DAF XF105.460 was arguably the best performer in the tautliner interlink category

While the DAF had an average payload of 36 463 kg, it was its average speed of 65,3 km/h and average fuel consumption of just 54,4 l/100 km that resulted in a category-topping payload productivity factor of 43,8.

Mark Gavin, sales director at Babcock’s Transport Solutions, says that the vehicle was an off-the-shelf, standard specification truck with no modifications. “The XF is not necessarily suited only to this particular route. We have specified our vehicles in general to compete and operate in the on-road, long-distance, truck tractor market, to ensure that they are the most cost effective to operate on South African roads today. Truck Test 2015 has proved that this is, indeed, the case,” he says.

Wilna Steyn, CEO of Babcock’s Transport Solutions, reiterates: “The truck has been tested for South African applications for over a million kilometres. This has ensured that it gives optimal performance to the transporter. The DAF slogan, ‘Your Profitability Our Aim’, was proved in Truck Test 2015.”

While, in Europe, DAF has been recognised as a truck brand that delivers enhanced profitability – being one of the top performing truck tractors in Europe for several years now – it has been adopted a little more slowly by South African operators. Nonetheless, say Steyn and Gavin, the company is determined to grow DAF’s local market share “to its rightful place”, while maintaining current service levels.

“We pride ourselves on our outstanding service levels and have an extremely proud record of uptime – over 99 percent in many fleets!” says Gavin. “Our market performance in the 2014/15 fiscal year was ahead of our expectations; we were able to add 1,5 percent to our market share. This year, we would obviously like to see some steady growth on that number.”

Gavin explains that Babcock is an extremely flexible business and thus makes constant changes and tweaks to its operations to keep up with the demands of its clients.

“The market can expect an array of new services from us in the future, which will put us in a better position to keep ahead of market demands. We may also be introducing additional products through the course of this year,” he alludes.

Gavin goes back to the XF105.460 to illustrate his point. “The fuel consumption factor of this vehicle is a huge talking point, as this contributes to over 50 percent of a long-distance transporter’s overall costs.

“If you couple this product to our other support pillars – our own repair and maintenance packages and on-board telemetry, Executrax, and our in-house finance company – there should be no reason whatsoever for transporters to look elsewhere for a complete transport solution. We really do live up to our reputation of ‘Trusted to Deliver’.”

As Steyn says, with the DAF brand, Babcock offers a complete, all-round package. “We have the best long-distance truck, excellent service and dealer coverage in South and southern Africa, as well as solutions like a finance offering. “Transporters that run our products feel comfortable that they have the best truck available with the service to back it up.”

“Truck Test 2015 has given us the opportunity to prove to the South African market that the DAF XF105.460 is the best vehicle on the country’s roads in terms of overall productivity,” Gavin notes.

“Overall, the test was great – extremely fair, well thought through and, for the first time ever in this country, actually compared apples with apples. We are extremely proud that, under these circumstances, we performed at the top of the pile in the interlink category,” he continues.

“Transporters no longer have to take our word for it … the Truck Test 2015 results prove that the DAF XF is the most profitable truck in its category on South African roads,” Steyn concludes with a smile.