Launched in 1969 the new Maxi promised to be a comfortable family car with a unique and practical body design, unfortunately the Maxi suffered from the usual Leyland build and image problems. The Maxi came with a choice of two different four cylinder, overhead cam engines a 1500cc and a 1750cc , both of which offered good levels of performance.

The Maxi body was similar in style to the old 1800 models but now included the useful addition of an opening rear hatch, the first of a whole new generation of medium sized family cars. The engine was transversely mounted and carried over the land-crab front wheel drive layout first used in the 1800 range.

The Maxi sold in steady numbers throughout its life, early 1500 versions suffered with poor gear change linkages and were dropped from the range after 1979. Production of the 1750 ended in 1981, by then 412,000 Maxi 1500/1750 models had been built.