Leyland Trucks history lies in origins as Leyland Motors which became part of the nationalised British Leyland conglomerate in 1975. Upon the breakup of BL's successor Rover Group, the truck making division merged with DAF Trucks to form Leyland DAF under the ownership of DAF NV in April 1987. When DAF NV was placed in administration in February 1993, Leyland Trucks emerged as an independent company.
Timeline
1896 – The Lancashire Steam Motor Company is formed by James Sumner at the Herbert Street workshops with twenty employees. Henry Spurrier financed the development of a 30cwt steam van, which proved to be successful.
1907 – T Coulthard and Co, an engineering firm in Preston, was taken over by LSMC and the combined company named Leyland Motors Limited.
1975 – BLMC was nationalised by the government in response to the severe financial problems being experienced by the group. The corporation becomes British Leyland with Leyland commercials becoming part of the autonomous Truck and Bus Division.
1978 – Leyland Vehicles Limited becomes the new name for the division.
1979 – Production starts during September at the all new Leyland Assembly Plant. The first build being a Leyland Leopard bus chassis.
1981 – LVL split into three companies; Leyland Trucks, Leyland Bus and Leyland Parts.
1986 – Parent company British Leyland is renamed the Rover Group, the new company begins divesting its non car manufacturing related businesses.
1987 – DAF Trucks take a 60% controlling share DAF NV that takes over Leyland Trucks and Freight Rover, with both rebranded Leyland DAF.
1993 – The Leyland factory is subject to a management buyout, and becomes Leyland Trucks Limited.
1998 – Leyland Trucks is acquired by Paccar.
2000 – Production of all Foden product is transferred to the Leyland Assembly Plant.
2005 – Leyland Trucks starts painting truck chassis robotically on the moving conveyor, a first in the industry.
2006 – Leyland Trucks stops production of Foden trucks, following the decision to retire the brand Foden.
2007, in another industry leading move, Leyland Trucks starts production of the complete bodied truck. Bodies are built on the production line, under the same quality controls, and fitted directly to its chassis prior to delivery to the customer.
2008, on 17 April, Leyland Trucks produced its 300,000th truck. Mark Armstrong Transport took delivery of the DAF XF 105 direct from the assembly line.
2008 – Leyland Trucks built a record 24,700 trucks at the assembly facility, supporting DAF's leading market share of the United Kingdom of 27.3%.
Products
DAF LF – Designed, developed and assembled at Leyland Trucks.
DAF CF – All CF65 2-axle rigids, and all right-hand-drive versions of the CF75 and CF85 are assembled at Leyland Trucks.
DAF XF – All RHD versions are assembled at Leyland Trucks.
