In many ways, Brazil is a land full of extremes: with a
surface area of 8.5 million square kilometres and a population of 208 million,
it is the fifth largest country in the world. The climate varies from
pleasantly warm to very hot and humid. According to Google Maps, it takes 71
hours to drive from Boa Vista in the north of the country to Porto Alegre in
the south, a distance of 5,259 kilometres. That is almost as far as the drive
from Tromsø in the north of Norway to Gibraltar in the south of Spain, with one
big difference: the European driver needs ‘only’ 55 hours, not 71, to cover
that distance, primarily because of the excellent infrastructure and almost
perfectly smooth roads. In Brazil currently, only 5.5% of the country’s 1.7
million kilometres of road is paved. In other words, road transport is still
quite an adventurous activity in Brazil.
In 2012, DAF’s parent company, PACCAR, decided it was time
to embark on that adventure by building a brand new factory in the southern
city of Ponta Grossa where, two years later, the first DAF XF105 rolled off the
production line. Today, the factory also produces the CF and LF, as well as PACCAR
engines.
Patience
Finding your place in the extremely competitive Brazilian
market (where all European truck manufacturers are represented) requires
perseverance – a lot of perseverance – but in Brazil, DAF is here to stay.
Dealers are investing heavily in the dealer network (it is DAF policy to work
with local entrepreneurs) and DAF has already been voted the most popular truck
brand in Brazil three years in succession.
Intact
There are a few important differences between a DAF produced
in the Brazilian factory and a ‘European’ DAF. Which is entirely logical, given
the road conditions described above and the fact that the maximum GCW for
trucks in Brazil is no less than 91 tons. A Brazilian DAF, therefore, has a
heavy duty chassis, suspension and axles. For DAF, Brazil sets the bar when it
comes to developing indestructible vehicles. Not surprisingly, the quote “If it
stays intact in Brazil, it will stay intact anywhere” is widely used in DAF’s
Product Development department.
Preventative only
Someone who knows all about this is Daniel Begnini, director
of ‘Transportes Begnini’ and proud owner of the first XF105 to be sold in
Brazil. Five years later, the truck has clocked up an amazing 1,000,000
kilometres and still looks brand new. “It hasn’t had one day of unplanned down
time in all those years,” according to its very satisfied owner, who now has
more than 30 DAFs in his fleet of 90 trucks. “We have only had to carry out the
recommended preventative maintenance and replace some spare parts every now and
then. And during the warranty period we used only genuine DAF parts. We have
since switched to universal parts from PACCAR’s TRP programme, which are just
as good in terms of quality.” Begnini’s trucks transport a wide range of goods
throughout Brazil: from bulk goods, such as cattle feed, to cows and steel.
“Like my colleagues in the road transport business, the country’s poor roads,
steep inclines and extreme conditions form the biggest challenges that we face
every day,” says Begnini. “Our decision in 2014 to go with DAF has proven to be
a wise one. The brand has become a permanent fixture in my fleet and will
remain so in the future.”
