Royden Axe (1937, Scunthorpe[1] – 5 October 2010, Florida) was a British car designer.
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Axe started his career in 1959 with the Rootes Group where he progressed first to "Chief stylist" and then to "Design director". Rootes became part of Chrysler Europe in 1966.
In 1982 Axe moved to British Leyland (BL) where he took over as styling director from David Bache, and was responsible for the building of a new styling studio at their Canley, 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.
Axe went on in 1991 to become head of the Warwick-based vehicle design consultancy Design Research Associates (DRA), which resulted from a management buyout of Rover's design studio in 1986. DRA was acquired by Arup in 1999.[2]
Roy Axe died on 5 October 2010 after battling cancer for two years.[3][4]
Axe was also involved in the design of the 1984 Austin Montego. 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 Austin Maestro hatchback had been delayed by several years.