Australian general manager of DAF Trucks joins Freightliner fold, following footsteps of Freightliner's Australia Pacific director
In a shock move, the general manager of DAF Trucks in Australia, Rob Griffin, has resigned to join the Freightliner fold.
His move comes just weeks before a special event at Paccar’s Bayswater (Vic) manufacturing facility marking the start of DAF assembly in Australia alongside Kenworth trucks.
Conversely, Griffin’s move comes at a time when Freightliner is embarking on the most comprehensive and expensive righthand-drive development program in the brand’s history as it prepares for the introduction in early 2020 of Cascadia, North America’s top-selling linehaul truck.
As national sales and operations manager, Rob Griffin will report directly to Freightliner Australia Pacific director, Stephen Downes.
Ironically, perhaps, Downes had also been DAF general manager before moving to Daimler’s Freightliner in 2015.
Whilst there has been no word from either camp on Rob Griffin’s move and no announcement of a replacement in the DAF role, it’s believed he will start at Freightliner in early September.
Rob Griffin’s move from Bayswater is the latest in a line of Paccar people who have sought greener pastures at Daimler Trucks headquarters in Mulgrave over the last decade or so.
However, as some Paccar personnel have occasionally remarked, sales volumes demonstrate the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence.
Meantime, while DAF and Freightliner currently languish on the lower rungs of the heavy-duty sales ladder, both brands are expecting much bigger things over the next few years.