Austin Montego - Design and Development

Design and Development

The Montego started life as a four-door notchback variant of project LC10. Development on the new model, intended to succeed both the Morris Marina and the Princess ranges by the turn of the 1980s, had begun in 1977 but ultimately the new car was not launched until seven years after development had started; in the meantime, the Marina had been updated and rebadged as the Morris Ital from 1980, whilst the Princess had been updated as the Austin Ambassador in 1982. The Honda-based Triumph Acclaim had also been introduced in 1981 largely as a stop-gap to keep potential buyers interested in BL products until both the Montego and the Rover 200-series were launched in 1984.

The Austin Maestro emerged as the five-door hatchback variant. When the designs diverged, the Montego became project LM11 (the Maestro being LM10), and remained based on a lengthened version of the LC10s Volkswagen Golf style front MacPherson strut / rear twist beam chassis. The Montego received different front and rear styling following the replacement of designer David Bache with Roy Axe. It also featured body-coloured bumpers (as did the Maestro), and front wipers which hid themselves under the bonnet when parked.

The Montego offered many improvements over the Maestro, many of which were later incorporated into the latter, such as a new SOHC engine (the S-Series), and a more robust dashboard. As with the Maestro, there was a high-performance MG version which again used the solid-state instrument cluster, trip computer, and synthesised voice for the information and warning systems. The dashboard fitted to the Montego was superior to that originally designed for the Maestro and featured a rally-style tachometer, a service indicator and a representation of the car showing open doors, lights left on, etc.

An estate variant, with larger luggage capacity than its competitors, two additional rear-facing child seats and self-levelling suspension, also styled by Roy Axe, followed shortly and received instant acclaim, winning the company a Design Council award.

There were originally plans to name it the Rover 400 Series and pre-production cars in Warwickshire were seen bearing "ROVER" badges, and badged as 413i, 416i, 420 and 420i. From 1995, a decade after the Montego was introduced, the 416i and 420i names would be used, but on the unrelated Rover 400 Series.