Paccar's European division DAF wowed the crowd at a recent German truck show with a new truck engineered under the direction of former Kenworth senior engineer Paul Middlehoven, who was responsible in large part for the T2000.

At the IAA2000 truck show in Frankfurt, Germany, DAF debuted a new version of its highly successful regional line-haul CF with an extended COE cab on a redesigned chassis that features DAF ventilated disc brakes and electronic braking and maintenance-free suspension as standard.
The new truck was engineered simultaneously at DAF's Dutch Eindhoven headquarters, in Leyland in Great Britain and at the PACCAR research and engineering center in Skagitt, Wash. The project chief was Paul Middlehoven, until the last few years a senior engineer with Kenworth.
Middlehoven told us that the new DAF CF incorporates some very advanced electrical systems engineering, an area where Kenworth will likely take a major lead in North America in the next few years.
The new DAF truck has much of the feel of a top-class European passenger car, said Middlehoven, with options of a day-cab, a regular sleeper and the new SpaceCab. This features a high roof and a slightly lengthened cab to widen the bunk without compromising the seat slide length for driver comfort in the cabover truck.
The CF complements the long-haul XF, which features a full-width cab. In Europe, the long-haul trucks all feature cabs built out to the maximum 2.5-meter width (98 inches). This gives the driver the maximum in-cab living space. Regional line-haul units like the CF have cabs around 2.3 meters (90 inches) width for better visibility. However, with the addition of high-roof cab tops and extra amenities like this CF addition, they become attractive for operators who truck Monday-Friday and get home weekends.
The DAF CF has been popular because it is a relatively low-cost regional line haul and now fills in the intermediate ground. Drivers like it, for while it has the narrower cab, clever styling gives it a broad-shouldered look like the big boys have.
Paccar is the parent company of U.S. competitors Kenworth and Peterbilt.