IF -gearet Leopard
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LEYLAND Vehicles is inv€ tigating whether it can offet manually-geared model in ti present range to cater for Al Reliance customers now th the launch of the Mark Ts Leopard coach has been poi poned.
Engineers at Leyland Passenger Vehicle Division a urgently evaluating a Z1 geared Leopard coach whic would be cheaper than ti current semi-automat models.
The ZF coach could t available by early next seaso: by which time production 4 Leopards will have been stei ped up to compensate for tt withdrawal of the Relianc within the next two months.
This means that the Leopaz Mark Two — code-named 13,1 — will not appear as early was once believed. At on time, it was reported that th TLIIH-engined 843 would t launched towards the end c 1978.
Development work on B4! the lowheight double-dec chassis based on Titan runnin gear, is understood to be th reason for the delay in the nel coach's appearance.
A fleet of 72 Leopard buse with ZF transmission is bein delivered to Central SMT i Scotland. Although these hay been affected by some mina clutch problems, both opera tor and Leyland are confiden that any problems can b cured quickly.