british leyland became the rover group in 1986. despite the huge success of the austin metro, launched in 1980, there was trouble in the company. in the 1980s austin sold the most cars in the british leyland group, however when the company became rover group, a greater emphasis was placed on the more upmarket rover name. in 1987 the company began phasing the name out and by 1989 it had been removed from all products.