Renault/amc Premier

Became Eagle Premier/dodge Monaco (1987-’92)

In 1982, American Motors Corporation and majority shareholder Renault began joint development of Project X58, a mid-sized saloon styled by Giugiaro and based around a Renault 25 monocoque and doors. Produced in a new AMC factory in Bramalea, Canada, the X58 was set for MY1988 launch as the Renault Premier, with a (stillborn) two-door Allure variant also planned. Behind the scenes, however, in ’86 Chrysler’s charismatic Lee Iacocca sanctioned talks with Renault to purchase AMC. After several months – and the assassination of Renault CEO George Besse by an extreme anti-capitalist group – Chrysler enacted a hostile AMC takeover by buying Renault’s majority shareholding for $1.1bn, a bargain given its established US dealer network, profitable Jeep brand, plus a fully operational new factory producing the Renault Premier.

AMC became Chrysler’s Jeep/eagle division in 1987, with just 172 examples of the new Renault Premier sold that year, some rebadged with the Eagle logo (many retaining the Renault lozenge inside). To fulfil a contractual obligation for Chrysler to buy at least 260,000 PRV V6 engines for the model, in 1989 a badge-engineered Dodge Monaco version of the former Renault was introduced. Anorak fact The Premier wasn’t the only Amc-era Renault to be rebranded as an Eagle when Chrysler took control: months earlier, the Renault 21 had a high-profile US launch as the Renault Medallion, only to be quickly rehashed as the Eagle Medallion