Re: [Amc-list] Rambler content

[Archimedes <Freedom@xxxxxxxx>]

Andrew Hay said:


>" From: Frank Swygert <farna@xxxxxxx> said:
>" 
>" Yeah, DCX was what Chrysler intended to do with AMC -- just a buy-out.


Those interested in this thread may enjoy reading my attempt at a timeline of the Chrysler crash:

http://freevirginia.blogspot.com/2008/12/chrysler-tale.html


>" It was more like when Renault took over AMC and treated the AMC guys
>" like they didn't know what they were doing -- why else would they be in
>" the mess they were in? Wouldn't listen when they were told the Alliance
>" needed at least an optional larger engine (than the 1.4L... okay for a
>" five speed or econo auto, but the auto really needed more power to be a
>" good only car!) and a few other things. They finally started listening
>" a little when the Premier came out, but then they caved to political
>" pressure at home and sold out, right when they were best poised to
>" (most likely) turn things around! 


I don't think any reasonable case can be made that things were about to turn around.  Yes, in 1988 AMC was about to post a minor profit, but that was driven by Jeep sales with the new XJ's.  It is entirely possible that the disastrous (AMC/Renault) car line could have dragged down the XJ as well.

AMC's biggest problem was that its newest cars would sell like hotcakes for the first couple of years, but then they aged quickly, sales dove, and then AMC -- which never had the money to intro new cars every 4 years, would be in dire straits once again.  It happened with the Matador Coupe, with the Pacer, with the Concord & Spirit, and the Alliance.

The same problem followed the Eagle Premier.  It's best sales years were, as I recall, the first two, but after that the car tanked big-time -- even with the resources of Chrysler behind it -- and at the end in 1992 they could barely give them away.  I always thought it was odd that the basic underpinnings of the LX models was all-Premier, yet those cars sold in excellent numbers and made almost two billion dollars for Chrysler between their intro in 1993 and the first major overhaul in 1998.

I really don't know what kept AMC in that rut.  During the same period, Honda, Toyota, and others often waited seven years or more before doing an all-over update of a model line, and their year-to-year sales didn't dive like AMC's did.  The foreign cars weren't all that good, then, either -- I think buyers just forgave the foreign makes and didn't forgive the domestic makes.

Interestingly, the reverse waas true with Jeeps.  Everyone who knows AMC history also knows the Jeep line went ignored by AMC for almost a decade and a half before anything new came down the pike.  Yet the trucks continued plowing along, keeping AMC afloat once or twice in the process.



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MARC MONTONI
Richmond VA
Cu vi parolas Esperanton?
Freedom.  Responsibility.  www.LP.org 
I'd rather push a Rambler than drive a Toyota.
Visit www.AMCRC.com or www.AMONational.com .
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