PACCAR is the DAF’s parent company. DAF is based in Eindhoven. PACCAR, which has its head office in the USA, was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
Truck sales halved compared to last year, and net profit fell by three quarters. PACCAR CEO, Preston Feight, doesn’t ignore this in his explanation of the figures. Corona had a firm grip on the company, he admitted.
Nevertheless, he’s satisfied with how the company has come through the crisis. “PACCAR achieved good profit and sales results in the second quarter,” Feight says. Most of PACCAR’s factories had to close for five weeks because of the pandemic.
‘Very proud’
In the period that followed, production was gradually restarted. All the while, taking employees’ health into consideration. “I am very proud of our employees.”
“They did an excellent job in this situation,” the CEO says. Dutch CEO, Harry Wolters, says demand for DAF’s trucks picked up during the quarter. But that’s not enough to compensate for the downturn.
He tells the local Dutch newspaper, Eindhovens Dagblad, that truck sales could be 31% to 41% down on last year. That’s on a yearly basis.
Source: Studio040
Translator: Bob
Editor: Melinda Walraven
