Eagle Premier

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eagle
1992 Eagle Premier ES Limited.jpg
Premier (X58)
Production period: 1987-1992
Class : upper middle class
Body versions : limousine
Engines: Petrol engines :
2.5-3.0 liters
(78-100 kW)
Length: 4897 mm
Width: 1778 mm
Height: 1389 mm
Wheelbase : 2692 mm
Empty weight : 1356-1392 kg
Previous model AMC Ambassador
successor Eagle vision

The Eagle Premier is a passenger car that was developed for the American market by the US car manufacturer American Motors Corporation together with the French car manufacturer Renault . After Chrysler took over AMC in 1987, the model was launched in 1988 and sold until 1992. From 1990 to 1992 the Dodge Monaco was offered as an identical model. The Premier and Monaco were marketed as a sporty, elegant sedan.

body

The Premier was a four-door sedan whose body had been designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro . Parts of the floor pan came from the Renault 25 . The Premier was the first big car that AMC launched after the AMC Ambassador was discontinued in 1974. It had the largest interior space in its class. The interior was designed by the AMC design team under the direction of Richard A. Teague . The vehicles offered equipment that was modern for their time. A two-door version Allure was planned by AMC, but was not realized.

mechanics

The wheels were individually suspended, at the front on MacPherson struts and wishbones, with rack and pinion steering, but at the rear on swing arms with torsion springs. These wheel suspensions were designed by engineers at AMC under Bob Batchelor. The Premier was available as an LX (with a 2.5 liter four-cylinder in-line engine from AMC until the end of the 1989 model year) as well as an ES and a Limited (with a 3.0-liter V6 engine, a variant of the PRV V6 engine that as a joint venture between Renault, Volvo and Peugeot ). Very few LX models were ordered - mainly for vehicle fleets. Thanks to its French design and the individually suspended wheels, the car was considered a sporty sedan on the American market. The quality of the construction was considered to be the best that AMC or Chrysler had ever delivered. However, cars of the first years of construction had to struggle with electronic problems.

Production history

To produce the Premier, the new Bramalea Assembly plant in Bramalea was built near an existing AMC factory in Brampton and opened in 1986. Chrysler was interested in buying AMC, not least because of this modern factory. After the acquisition, it was renamed Brampton Assembly .

The car was originally intended to be sold as Renault Premier . The first copies actually left the factory at the beginning of 1988 under this name, the chassis numbers of all 1988 models correspond to the AMC model. The AMC emblem was embossed on many parts of the vehicle until 1992. Up until the facelift in 1990, the vehicles had signs reading "Design Giugiaro".

The introduction of the structurally identical Dodge Monaco was a result of the commitment agreed in the takeover agreement to purchase 260,000 PRV V6 engines from Renault in the first five years. Chrysler tried in vain to establish the Eagle Premier and the Dodge Monaco as competition to the Ford Taurus and similar models from Acura and Volvo . Rather, the Premier and Monaco competed in the market with other Chrysler and Dodge models in the same class. The sales figures of the Eagle and the Monaco fell short of expectations. Production stopped in 1992. 139,051 Eagle Premier and Dodge Monaco had been built in Bramalea. Chrysler paid a contractual penalty for each of the 120,949 PRV V6 engines that Renault no longer purchased.

Afterlife

The Brampton Assembly was converted after the end of this series for the production of Chrysler LH vehicles, which came on the market in autumn 1992. The Premier can be seen as the forerunner of the LH platform. François Castaing , formerly head of product development at AMC, became head of vehicle design at Chrysler in 1988. The Eagle Vision became the somewhat larger direct successor to the Premier. The "cab-forward design" of the LH cars was very different from that of the Premier, but the engines in this series were also installed lengthways - in contrast to all other front-wheel drive cars from Chrysler. The automatic transmission of the LH cars, the A606, was very similar to the electronic transmission from Audi production, which had been used in the four-cylinder Premier. The body of the Premier was used for the LH “development mules”, which were used for road testing of the new LH mechanics. After two generations, Chrysler adapted the rear-wheel drive concept from Daimler-Benz for this platform .

Web links

Commons : Eagle Premier  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://storm.oldcarmanualproject.com/eagle/0607r.jpg