DAF’s founder, Hub van Doorne, started an engineering business, ‘Hub van Doorne, Machinefabriek en Reparatie-inrichting’. Together with his brother Wim he laid the foundations of DAF as a leading truck manufacturer in Europe. The Great Depression saw a shift towards trailer manufacturing and the change in name to ‘Van Doornes Aahangwagen Fabriek’ (Van Doornes Trailer Factory) which was abbreviated to ‘DAF’.