LEYLAND

Leyland Motors has a long and rich history dating back to 1896, when the Sumner and Spurrier families founded the Lancashire Steam Motor Company in the town of Leyland, Lancashire, in North West England. The company’s first vehicle was a 1.5-ton steam-powered van. In 1907, after acquiring Coulthards of Preston, the company was renamed Leyland Motors. Around this time, a second factory was built in the neighbouring town of Chorley, which still serves today as the headquarters of the LEX leasing and parts company.

Following the merger into the BLMC group, management became increasingly difficult due to the large number of subsidiary companies, many of which produced similar products. This, among other factors, led to financial difficulties, and in December 1974, British Leyland had to receive a government guarantee. In 1975, after the publication of the Ryder Report, BLMC was nationalised as British Leyland (BL) and split into four divisions, with bus and truck production becoming the Leyland Truck & Bus division within the Land Rover Leyland Group. The bus operations were later spun off as a management buy-out to form Leyland Bus, which was subsequently acquired by Volvo Buses in 1988, who then discontinued most of its product range.