AMC was founded in 1954 in an attempt to compete with the Big Three, giving us iconic vehicles like the Rambler, Javelin, Hornet, Pacer, and quite a few underrated muscle cars. AMC also had brands like Jeep and Rambler, but the company was experiencing financial troubles by the 1970s. In the mid-1970s, AMC had lost the equivalent of $300,000,000 as sales rapidly declined. Renault purchased AMC in 1980, coming to its rescue.
In the end, AMC wouldn’t make it to the 1990s. Many would say this was due to Renault’s then chairman, Georges Besse, getting assassinated in 1986. Leading up to that tragic night, Besse had been heavily criticized for his aggressive layoffs — over 21,000 workers across France — aimed at making Renault profitable after he became head of the struggling company. Three months after his death, it was revealed that a French militant anarchist group, Action Directe, was responsible for his assassination, a retaliation for the layoffs.
With the death of Besse, AMC had lost its biggest supporter. Due to AMC’s struggles at the time, many questioned Besse’s decision to invest so heavily in the American automaker. Raymond Levy took over Renault and immediately acted on that criticism, selling AMC to Chrysler in 1987.
How did Jeep end up surviving after AMC’s downfall?
Despite AMC’s demise in the 1980s, Jeep continues on to this day. In the 1970s, when AMC was losing money and sales, Jeep kept the brand alive. It was the only reason AMC had a small profit in 1978. It was thanks to Jeep that Besse even took an interest in AMC and brought Renault into the struggling company. He believed that Jeep would become a successful brand in North America and made it a major focus for AMC, which invested heavily in developing the Cherokee XJ around that time. Nowadays, the Cherokee is preparing for its long-awaited return.
When Chrysler purchased AMC, it pivoted to become the Jeep and Eagle division. Eagle was gone by the 1990s, but Jeep has powered on, just as Besse predicted. Fiat acquired a stake in Chrysler and formed Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014, bringing Jeep along. FCA merged with the French PSA Group to form Stellantis in 2021, with Jeep remaining one of 14 car brands under the large company.
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