The Leyland National is a British single-deck bus built in large quantities between 1972 and 1985. It was developed as a joint project between two UK nationalised industries - the National Bus Company and British Leyland. Buses were constructed at a specially built factory at the Lillyhall Industrial Estate, Workington

Workington

Workington is a town, civil parish 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...

, Cumbria. Styling was carried out by the famed Italian vehicle stylist Giovanni Michelotti

Giovanni Michelotti

Giovanni Michelotti was one of the most prolific designers of sports cars in the 20th century. His notable contributions were for Triumph and BMW marques...

, well known to British Leyland, having worked for both Triumph

Triumph Motor Company

The Triumph Motor Company was a British car and motor manufacturing company. The Triumph marque is owned currently by BMW. The marque had its origins in 1885 when Siegfried Bettmann of Nuremberg initiated S. Bettmann & Co and started importing bicycles from Europe and selling them with his own...

 (Herald, TR4, GT6, 2000/2500, 1300, Dolomite and Stag) and Scammell lorries (Routeman GRP cab).

It was built with the intention to replace all the rear-engined single-deckers offered by British Leyland, including AEC Swift

AEC Swift

The AEC Swift was a rear-engined single-deck bus chassis built by AEC between 1964 and 1974. The chassis design was closely related to the Leyland Panther...

, Bristol RE

Bristol RE

The Bristol RE was a rear-engined single-deck bus chassis built by Bristol Commercial Vehicles from 1962 until 1982. It is widely considered the most successful of the first generation of rear-engined single-deckers....

, single-deck Daimler Fleetline

Daimler Fleetline

The Daimler Fleetline is a rear-engined double-decker bus chassis built between 1960 and 1973 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, and from 1973 until 1980 in Farington, Lancashire, England. However, the last complete vehicle did not enter service until 1983...

, Daimler Roadliner

Daimler Roadliner

The Daimler Roadliner was a single deck bus or coach chassis built by Daimler between 1962 and 1972. Notoriously unreliable, it topped the 1993 poll by readers of Classic Bus as the worst bus type ever, beating the Guy Wulfrunian into second place...

 and Leyland Panther

Leyland Panther

The Leyland Panther was a rear-engined single-deck bus chassis built by Leyland between 1964 and 1972. It gained a reputation for unreliability, which to some extent was common to many of the first generation of rear-engined single-deckers....

.
The Leyland National was built with integral, modular construction and a rear engine.