 By the time of the Maestro's launch, a string of poor quality models throughout the 1970s had damaged the reputation of British Leyland and the Austin brand with the Maestro selling fewer models over a greater number of years (605,000 over twelve years to 642,000 Allegros over eight years).In 1987, the Austin name was phased out after 82 years in favour of the Rover name; which hadn't been tainted with some of the poorer products that had dented the reputation of the Austin brand.In February 2006, it was reported that more than 1,000 Austin Allegros sold in the UK were still registered with the DVLA, a better survival rate than the more popular Morris Marina; most of which were dismantled for parts that were interchangeable with other British Leyland cars such as the MGB, Mini and Morris Minor.