The replacement for the Austin Allegro started in 1975, and the first drawings made by Ian Beech under the direction of David Bache were put before the Leyland board in 1976. There was a rival design by Harris Mann and Spen King, but this was eliminated during the project. A booted version of the LM10 was spun off into a separate LM11 project to arrive as the Austin Montego in due course. The smaller engined LM10 was given the A-plus 1275cc engine already slated for the Austin Metro. For the larger LM10s a new R-series engine was developed from the Maxi E-series engine and this proved to be a problematic engine, being replaced in 1984 by a development of the O-series engine called the S-series. But the S-series was replaced the 2-litre O-series unit. The Austin Maestro was launched in 1983 with 1300 and 1600 engines and also as the MG Maestro 1600. In 1984 the fuel-injected Maestro EFI gave the model a hot hatch back, and an even hotter one in the form of the Maestro Turbo from 1988. The Maestro shared the market with its booted sibling the Austin/MG Montego from 1988. Production ended in 1994, and presses were sold off to China.