Leyland Trucks

DAF LF designed and built by Leyland Trucks 2009

DAF XF built by Leyland Trucks

Leyland Trucks is the UK's leading medium & heavy duty truck manufacturer and is based in the town of Leyland, Lancashire. It emerged from the bankruptcy of DAF NV as the result of a management buy-out in 1993, and was acquired by Paccar in 1998, of which it is now a subsidiary. Since Leyland Trucks was acquired by Paccar it has become the group's established centre for the design, development and manufacture of light and medium duty trucks. Leyland Trucks operates out of one of Europe's most advanced truck manufacturing facilities - the Leyland Assembly Plant, and currently employs 1000 people. In 2008 Leyland produced more than 24,500 trucks of which 50% were exported.

History

Its history lies in origins as Leyland Motors which subsequently became part of the nationalised British Leyland conglomerate. Upon the breakup of BL's successor Rover Group, the truck making division merged with DAF's truck business as DAF NV. When the new company became insolvent a few years later, Leyland Trucks emerged as an independent company.

1st Truck built at Leyland 1896

Timeline

• 1896 The Lancashire Steam Motor Company is formed by James Sumner at the Herbert Street workshops with 20 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
• 1963 Leyland Motor Corporation is formed after Leyland Motors absorbs Standard-Triumph International and Associated Commercial Vehicles Ltd during the preceding years
• 1968 Leyland Motor Corporation and British Motor Holdings merged to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation, which was now the fifth largest vehicle producer in the world
• 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 sold to British Aerospace and is renamed the Rover Group. The new company begins divesting its non-car manufacturing related businesses.
• 1987 DAF Trucks take a 60% controlling share in Leyland Trucks and Freight-Rover and becomes Leyland DAF
• 1993 The Leyland factory is subject to a management buy-out and becomes Leyland Trucks Limited
• 1998 Leyland Trucks is acquired by Paccar of the United States and incorporated as the Leyland Trucks subsidiary of that company
• 2000 Production of all Foden product is transferred to the Leyland Assembly Plant
• 2002 The Leyland designed and built LF wins the prestigious award 'International Truck of the Year'
• 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 Foden brand
• 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 Ltd 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 (beating the previous 2007 record of 17,500), supporting DAFs Leading UK Market Share of 27.3%
• 2009 In April Leyland Trucks was awarded the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise in International Trade.
• 2010 Leyland Trucks was awarded the PACCAR Chairman's Award for 2009

Products

• DAF LF - Designed, developed and assembled at Leyland Trucks. This truck received the International Truck of the Year award in 2002.^[1]
• DAF CF - All CF65 2 axle rigids, and all right hand drive (RHD) versions of the CF75 and CF85 are assembled at Leyland Trucks.^[1]
• DAF XF - All RHD versions are assembled at Leyland Trucks. This truck received the international truck of the year award in 2007.^[1]

See also

References

External links

• Official website