Royden Axe (September 1937 – 5 October 2010) was a British car designer, widely known for his design work on the

Chrysler Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine Nationa ...

, Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket, Chrysler Horizon, and Rover 800 — as well his affable character and ability to realize his designs fully — for radiating enthusiasm about cars. He received a Lifetime Award from the Coventry Lanchester Polytech Faculty of Art and Design, in 1985, and an Honorary Degree from University of Central England at Birmingham in 1995.

Early life and career

Axe was born in Scunthorpe and attended Scunthorpe Grammar School (now St Lawrence Academy). Having begun his career in 1959 with the

Rootes Group The Rootes Group was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. From headquarters in the West End of London, the manufacturer was based in the English Midlands, Midlands and the distribu ...

, Axe joined the company on a three week apprenticeship, and did not leave until 1976. At Rootes he progressed first to chief stylist and then to Design Director — at age 29. As Rootes became part of

Chrysler Europe Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978. It was formed from the merger of the French Simca, British Rootes and Spanish Barreiros companies. In 1978, Chrysler divested thes ...

in 1966 along with

Simca Simca (; Mechanical and Automotive Body Manufacturing Company) was a French automaker, founded in November 1934 by Fiat S.p.A. and directed from July 1935 to May 1963 by Italy, Italian Henri Pigozzi. Simca was affiliated with Fiat and, after Simc ...

, Axe led the styling efforts on almost all of the Chrysler/Rootes/Simca products of the early to mid-1970s, including the Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket, Simca 1308/Chrysler Alpine and Chrysler Horizon — the latter two which won 1976 and 1978

European Car of the Year The European Car of the Year award is an international Car of the Year award established in 1964 by a collective of automobile magazines from different countries in Europe. The current organising media of the award are '' Auto'' (Italy), '' Aut ...

, respectively. Following Chrysler Europe's collapse in 1977, Axe moved to Detroit to head Chrysler's styling studios in the United States, where he worked on the original

Chrysler minivans The Chrysler minivans are a series of minivans that have been produced and marketed by the American automaker Chrysler since the 1984 model year. Currently in its sixth generation, the model line is marketed worldwide, primarily in North America ...

as well as the 1981–1983

Chrysler Imperial The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was Chrysler (division), Chrysler's top-of-the-line vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced under the Chrysler name until 1954, after which Imperial became Imperial (automobile), a standal ...

. In 1982, Axe returned to the United Kingdom, joining

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

(BL) where he took over as styling director from

David Bache David Ernest Bache (14 June 1925 – 26 November 1994) was a German-born English automobile designer. For much of his career he worked with Rover Company, Rover. Early life Bache was born in Mannheim, Germany, the son of Aston Villa and England ...

who had been sacked from BL over disagreements with the company boss Harold Musgrove concerning the

Austin Maestro The Austin Maestro is a five-door hatchback small family car (and two-door van derivative) that was produced from November 1982 to 1986 by British Leyland, and from 1986 until December 1994 by Rover Group, as a replacement for the Austin Maxi a ...

), still under development. Axe was responsible for building a new styling studio at their

Canley Canley is a suburban neighbourhood located in south-west Coventry, England. Canley became part of Coventry as a result of successive encroachment of the latter's boundaries between 1928 and 1932, having historically been part of the Stoneleigh ...

, Coventry plant; the former opened in 1982. He also recruited a new team. Early projects from the new studio included ''Project XX'' (the Rover 800) and the MG EX-E

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

. Axe retired from Rover at age 55. In 1991, Axe became head of the

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

-based vehicle design consultancy Design Research Associates (DRA), which resulted from a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

of Rover's design studio in 1986. DRA was acquired by Arup in 1999.

Examples of Axe's car designs

1967 Sunbeam Rapier and Sunbeam Alpine fastback coupés * 1970

Hillman Avenger The Hillman Avenger is a five-passenger, front-engine, rear-drive B-segment/Subcompact car, subcompact car, originally engineered and manufactured by the Rootes Group in the UK and marketed globally from 1970–1978 in two- or four-door sedan a ...

/ Plymouth Cricket * 1975

(Talbot) * 1976

Hillman Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

* 1977 Iran Khodro Paykan facelift * 1979 Chrysler Horizon (Talbot) * 1980 Talbot Tagora * 1985 MG EX-E concept car * 1986 Rover CCV concept car * 1986 Rover 800 (developed in conjunction with the

Honda Legend The is a series of V6 engine, V6-engined executive cars that was produced by Honda between 1985 and 2021, and served as its flagship vehicle. The Legend has also been sold under the Acura Legend, Acura RL, RL and Acura RLX, RLX nameplates — t ...

) * 1989

Rover 200 The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by former British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005. There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The firs ...

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 (Roman numerals, CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (consul 400), Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year ...

(R8) * 1994 Bentley Java concept car Axe was also involved in the design of the 1984

Austin Montego The Austin Montego is a British family car that was produced by British Leyland from 1984 until 1988, and then by Rover Group from 1988 until 1995. The Montego was the replacement for both the rear-wheel drive Morris Ital and the front-wheel dri ...

. The design had been initiated prior to his joining BL, but he was able to make last-minute changes to it shortly before it entered production. Cosmetic changes – which aimed to improve the by-then dated design – included black trim along the car's waist line. Due to BL's financial problems, the release of the Montego, and the related David Bache-designed

hatchback had been delayed by several years.

Personal life

After selling DRA to Arup in 1999, Axe moved to Sarasota, Florida with his family. He died on 5 October 2010 after battling cancer for two years.

Bibliography

* ''A Life in Style'', Autobiography of Roy Axe,

References

;Footnotes ;Sources * British automobile designers 1937 births 2010 deaths People from Scunthorpe Deaths from cancer in Florida {{UK-engineer-stub