The Titan was conceived in 1973 as project B15 and was intended as a replacement for the Bristol VRT, Daimler Fleetline and Leyland Atlantean.

The move away from body-on-chassis construction caused concern for the bodybuilders, who had already lost market share to the Leyland National.

In October 1978, Leyland announced the AEC factory would close, with the intention of keeping Titan production at Park Royal.

The industrial relations problems continued, as Leyland sought to replace the skilled staff, who had left, with semi-skilled workers.

As well as the production difficulties, other aspects of the Titan specification, which was strongly influenced by London Transport, were unpopular.

Power hydraulic brakes, a fixed height of 14 feet 5 inches (4.39 m) and an inability to specify local bodywork all limited the Titan's appeal.

Outside London, only two of the passenger transport executives of the United Kingdom would ultimately take delivery of Titans, albeit in reduced numbers.

A 36 feet (11 m) long version of the Titan had been planned for this operator but that too was cancelled as a result of the difficulties at Park Royal,[9] with two Leyland Victory Mark 2s built instead.

A demonstrator, built in 1982, failed to secure any further orders, operators preferring the flexibility and lower cost of the Leyland Olympian.

The decision was made to end production, upon completion of a final batch of 240 ordered in 1984,[11] with Leyland focusing on the Olympian.

[12] The orders from London Transport were as follows: The first production Titans were delivered in August 1978 and entered service at Hornchurch in December 1978 on routes 165, 246 and 252.

These Titans, following mechanical assessment by MTL Engineering and an initial period of running in London configuration, would be extensively refurbished to have centre exit doors removed, seats retrimmed into standard MTL moquette, fitted with accessibility features recommended by the Disabled Persons Transport Advisory Committee (DiPTAC) and being painted into standard Merseybus livery before re-entering service in Liverpool to replace life-expired Leyland Atlanteans in the Merseybus fleet.

as well as many other bus companies within the Merseyside region like Aintree Coachlines, Avon Buses, GTL, Liverpool City Coaches/Citybus, Merseyline Travel and Village Group.