Leyland Trucks in England is now building and fitting bodies on 20% of the straight trucks Daf sells in the UK, according to Robin Dickeson of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
This is just three years after the firm introduced the concept of completely bodied trucks at its factory in Leyland. The company made the move to help it and its dealers cope with the effects of European Community Whole Vehicle Type Approval— a system allowing a vehicle design to be “type approved” for sale, registration and entry into service across all member states in the EU without the need for further testing in each country—and to help bring consistently higher standards to truck bodybuilding.
Fleet operators reportedly appreciate the consistency of placing an order in which all the bodies are exactly the same. Those operators and Daf benefit from the knowledge that the bodywork is to the same standard as the truck chassis, boosting the complete truck's residual value.
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