Harold Musgrove

Who is Harold Musgrove?

Harold Musgrove served as Chair of the Austin Rover Group from 1982 until 1986. He was replaced by Graham Day at the helm. During his time at Austin Morris he oversaw the sacking of Derek Robinson and the strike that followed. He also oversaw the introduction of the Austin Maestro and Triumph Acclaim; both were models that had limited success. His time was riddled with industrial relations problems much of which was considered to be provoked by heavy-handed management techniques.

Much of the controversy engendered by Musgrove during his tenure is attributed to hubris; however, some of his decisions did little to endear employees. Such actions include his underhanded efforts to eliminate the Mini and his decision to fire Director of Design David Bache. Musgrove came up through the manufacturing ranks but lacked real commercial knowledge, at times using nostalgia as a reason for driving product plans forward—one such idea was to bring back the Austin of England brand as a way of dynamising the company.