The
Leyland Tiger was a mid-engined bus and coach chassis which was built between 1981 and 1993. It replaced the
Leyland LeopardThe Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-deck bus and coach chassis built by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. It was popular with bus and coach operators throughout the British Isles...
, which had been in production for over 20 years. The Leopard had been designed for the new '
motorwayThe OECD has defined a motorway as:Motorways are identical to freeways as a road type, and comparable to the United States's Interstate Highways as a classification....
era' at the end of the 1950s, and although it continued to sell well, the design was showing its age by the 1980s. Volvo, having already won over many independent customers from Leyland with its successful
B58The Volvo B58 is a mid-engined bus chassis built by Volvo of Sweden from 1966 until early 1982. It was the forerunner to the highly successful B10M....
, was at that time developing the
B10MThe Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/DH10A diesel engine placed under the floor...
which was set to further strengthen its position in the coach industry. The Tiger formed part of a complete renewal of Leyland's product range over a short space of time.
Engine options
Initially only one engine was offered, the turbocharged Leyland TL11, which could be rated up to 245hp. The Leopard had enjoyed huge success as a bus in Scotland, usually with the Alexander Y-type body, but had lost some
Scottish Bus GroupThe Scottish Bus Group was a state-owned Scottish holding company that included a number of bus operators covering the whole of Scotland. The group was formed in 1961 as Scottish Omnibuses Group Ltd, to take control of the British Transport Commission's bus operating subsidiaries in Scotland...
orders to
Seddon'sSeddon Atkinson was a manufacturer of Large Goods Vehicles based in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It is now wholly owned by IVECO who have used the brand latterly for certain specialised vehicles in the United Kingdom....
Pennine VIIThe Seddon Pennine VII was a mid-underfloor-engined single-deck bus or coach chassis built by Seddon Atkinson between 1974 and 1982. It competed directly against the Leyland Leopard, and was developed at the behest of the Scottish Bus Group following Leyland's refusal to build Leopards with Gardner...
, owing to Leyland's unwillingness to offer a Gardner engine in the Leopard. When Leyland launched the Tiger, it continued this same unwillingness, just as Dennis was developing the Gardner-engined
Dennis DorchesterThe Dennis Dorchester was a mid-engined heavy-duty single deck coach or bus chassis built by Dennis in small numbers between 1983 and 1988.About two thirds of the total number built were bought by Scottish Bus Group subsidiaries Western Scottish, Central Scottish and Clydeside Scottish...
, which similarly had the potential to win SBG orders away from the Tiger. Faced with this possibility, Leyland offered Gardner 6HLX-series engines in the Tiger from 1984. To facilitate this, the Tiger chassis had to be modified, as the Gardner engine was significantly larger than the TL11. Although the threat from the Dorchester was successfully warded off, there proved to be a limited market for the Gardner-engined Tiger outside of SBG.
A North American engine, the
CumminsCummins Inc. is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems...
L10, was also made an option by 1987. (Cummins' previous attempt to put its engines in a British bus had not been a success; they were used in the notoriously unreliable Daimler Roadliner.) Engine design and development was very expensive, and Leyland was no longer a world leader in this field, so outsourcing was the only option if Leyland wanted modern engines in its coaches. The Cummins engine was being specified more often from around 1988, and with this engine, the gearbox would usually be a
ZFZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German public company headquarted in Friedrichshafen, in the German south-west region of Baden-Württemberg....
as opposed to the Leyland Hydracyclic.
Volvo took over Leyland in 1988, and from 1989 the Tiger was offered with the Volvo THD100-series engine (as fitted in the best-selling B10M). The large majority of Volvo-engined Tigers went to
Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland is a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and it is situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. At around this time, the TL11 and Gardner options were dropped, leaving only the Cummins and Volvo options available.
Bus version
Like the Leopard, the Tiger was also sold as a bus. Usually it would have a downrated engine, and leaf springs in place of the standard air suspension. The Scottish Bus Group bought batches of these usually with
AlexanderWalter Alexander Coachbuilders was a Scottish bus coachbuilder based in Falkirk.-History:In 1922, the founder of the company, Walter Alexander, decided that it would be beneficial to make buses for his own bus company , so he, with the help of his son, launched W...
TS-type bodywork and Gardner 6HLXCT engines. Small independent operators also took an interest in the Tiger as a bus. Bodywork for the Tiger bus was built by Alexander (the T-type and P-type),
PlaxtonPlaxton is a builder of bus and coach vehicle bodies based in Scarborough, England.-History:The Plaxton of today is the successor to a business founded in Scarborough in 1907 by Frederick William Plaxton.-Beginnings:...
(Bustler and Derwent), East Lancs (some of which were rebodies), Wadham Stringer and
Reeve BurgessReeve Burgess was a bus body manufacturer based in Pilsley, North East Derbyshire in the United Kingdom. It was a subsidiary of Plaxton from 1980 until its closure in 1991....
(who built an unusual batch of short Tigers for Tayside).
The Tiger also proved to be very popular in Northern Ireland, with
UlsterbusUlsterbus is a public transport operator in Northern Ireland and operates bus services outside Belfast. It is part of Translink , which also includes Northern Ireland Railways, Metro Belfast and Flexibus.-Services:Ulsterbus is responsible for most of the province-wide bus...
and Citybus (known as Metro since February 2005) purchasing 747 between 1983 and 1993. Approximately 291 are still in service as of December 2008, compared to 576 last year. 97 are N-Types (with three being used as towbuses), 194 are Q-Types including 23 bodied Wright Endeavour. The number of N-Type Leyland Engined Tigers left with Ulsterbus have decreased significantly in the past few years with more withdrawals to continue, as fleet numbers 340-499, 1000-1299, and
GardnerL. Gardner and Sons Ltd was a well-known British builder of diesel engines for stationary, marine, road and rail applications. The company was founded in Hulme Manchester England in 1868. They started building engines around 1895. The firm of L...
-engined 2601-2635 are to be withdrawn. All in an attempt to 'modernise' the Ulsterbus and Citybus (Metro) fleet. As of November 2008, all Gardner engined Tigers have been withdrawn, leaving only 66 Leyland engined Tigers remaining in active service. The first Tiger bus to arrive in Northern Ireland was registered DXI 3340 (fleet number 340), new in January 1984 with Ulsterbus (six Tiger coaches were already in the fleet). A body for this type of bus was built in
Mallusk, Northern IrelandNewtownabbey is a large suburb of Belfast in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Newtownabbey Urban Area is directly north of Belfast and contains a large number of smaller developments, including Carnmoney, Ballyduff, Glengormley, Jordanstown, Monkstown, Rathcoole and Whiteabbey. Overall...
by Alexander (Belfast), known as the N-Type. Initially, Ulsterbus used the TL11 engine, whilst Citybus used the TRB6LXB Gardner engine on its 1988-89 batches of Tigers with LXI and NXI registrations. The N-Type body ceased production in September 1990, with the last one arriving in Northern Ireland registered RXI 3339 (fleet number 1339. This historical bus was subsequently withdrawn and sold for scrap in April 2007.) It was then replaced by the Q-Type body, which was built on Tigers 1321, 1340-1500 and 2636-2680 up until August 1993 (and thereafter on its successor the
Volvo B10MThe Volvo B10M is a popular mid-engined bus and coach chassis built by Volvo between 1978 and 2001. It was built as the successor of the B58 and was equipped with a 9.6-litre horizontally-mounted Volvo THD100/THD101/THD102/DH10A diesel engine placed under the floor...
for a further two years). These later Ulsterbus Tigers (fleet numbered 1300-1500) and Citybus Tigers (2636-2680) were fully automatic and were equipped with a Volvo engine. The first of the Q-Types, which was a
prototypeA prototype is an original type, form, or instance of something serving as a typical example, basis, or standard for other things of the same category...
, also came to Northern Ireland, registered RXI 3321 (fleet number 1321) in December 1990. The very last Tiger to enter service did so in Northern Ireland, this being registered YXI 5500 (fleet number 1500) in August 1993.
The Tiger was very popular in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
as well, with many units entering NSW fleets. The biggest customer for the Tiger in Australia was arguably Ventura in Melbourne who purchased around 70 Tigers over a four year period. All but one of these units carry a Pressed Metal Corporation body built in Sydney, but there is one with a PMC Adelaide body built in South Australia which was purchased second hand. These Tigers began to arrive at Ventura in April 1984 and the last batch was delivered in October/November 1987 but did not get registered or enter service until early 1988. These buses are now withdrawn from service from Ventura, with a small number living on for
school busA school bus is a type of bus used for transporting children and teenagers to and from school and school events. The first school bus was horse-drawn, introduced in 1827 by George Shillibeer for a Quaker school at Abney Park in Stoke Newington, London, United Kingdom, and was designed to carry 25...
duties only.
Volvo ownership
Leyland BusLeyland Bus was a British bus manufacturer. It emerged from the Rover Group as a management buyout of the bus business...
was bought by manager Ian McKinnon in January 1987, and it looked like the Tiger would continue as before. Just over 12 months later Volvo purchased the business, bringing
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
's two best-selling coaches, the Volvo B10M and Leyland Tiger, under common ownership. Volvo was aware that Leyland had a loyal following, and that the Tiger had a good reputation, and so the Tiger continued. In 1989, despite slow sales, it reassured Tiger loyalists that the chassis was there to stay, positioning it to compete with the
Dennis JavelinThe Dennis Javelin is an underfloor-engined bus and coach chassis originally built by Dennis in the United Kingdom. It was unveiled in 1986 and acted more or less as a modern replacement for the discontinued Bedford Y-series...
. But sales remained slow, and in 1990, in an attempt to shift stock, Volvo had Plaxton body forty chassis. Twenty-five of these bodies were the only Plaxton 321 bodies built, this being the Plaxton derivative of the Duple 320 body acquired when Duple closed.
Volvo acknowledged that the Tiger and B10M were broadly similar, and whereas Leyland had sold 3,500 Tigers since the model's launch, Volvo had sold 20,000 B10Ms during the same period. The penultimate major buyer of the Tiger, Shearings, switched to the B10M for 1991, and Volvo finally decided to cease production on the same date as the factory that built it, in
WorkingtonWorkington is a town and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport....
, closed.