Crossley Brothers was founded by Francis and William Crossley in 1867 as an engineering business and became famous for their internal combustion engines. In the early 1900s they provided some of these to early motor vehicle manufacturers and in 1904 they founded Crossley Motors so they could make their own range of vehicles, initially a range of cars. In 1910 Crossley Motors became a stand alone company.

During World War I they were major suppliers of cars and light trucks (tenders) to the Royal Flying Corps.

With peace car production resumed and in 1920 about 60 chassis a week were being produced making Crossley probably the third largest producer in the country (after Ford and Austin). Also from the mid-1920s a range of military vehicles was being manufactured and in 1926 bus production commenced.

In the 1930s the demand for small production coachbuilt cars was declining and production of these stopped as increasing orders for military vehicles arrived.

During World War II Crossley was a major supplier of trucks to the Royal Air Force.

After the war there were large orders for buses to replace those lost and worn out. In the late 1940s there was a major consolidation of the industry and Crossley Motors became part of ACV (Associated Commercial Vehicles). After the initial boom orders declined and in 1953 the last Crossley bus chassis was delivered and Crossley concentrated on building bodies on other makes of chassis but the writing was on the wall and the factory closed in 1958.