Symbolizing power and grandeur since Roman time , the name of America ’s national bird has been used over the yr on product ranging from pencils to potato chips – and cable car , of course of instruction . In fact , no fewer than six unlike automakers operated under the Eagle iris before World War I , four in the U.S. alone . Durant Motors produced its own Eagle in 1923 - 24 , and Chevrolet used the name for its deluxe good example of 1933 . In the late ' 60s , Eagle was a natural option for the competition cars built by the All - American Racers business firm of driving caption Dan Gurney .
As a make , however , the only Eagle pertinent to this book is the one established by Chrysler Corporation from the remains of American Motors Corporation . Chrysler bought AMC from Renault of France in 1987 , mainly to gain the moneymaking Jeep franchise . But it also inherited the rights to expend the Eagle name on cars , which had descended to AMC through a serial of merger and takeover .
This line of succession start with landrover - builder Willys and its Aero - Eagle rider railroad car of 1952 - 54 . Willys ( and Jeep ) were then corrupt by Kaiser ( see entry ) , which evolved into the Kaiser - Jeep Corporation acquire by AMC in 1970 . Later , AMC shortly sell a Jeep Eagle , a fancy CJ-7 , then put the Eagle name on its new 1980 line of business of four - wheel - drive rider cars .
Besides this name , Chrysler also inherited AMC ’s dealer eubstance – which perplex a problem . Those dealers were used to selling cars as well as Jeeps , and most still ask cars to support their business despite rise Jeep sale . Accordingly , most AMC operations – dealers included – were rolled into a new third Chrysler division squall Jeep - Eagle , with Eagle now a full - fledged car make . To avert " cannibalizing " sales from Dodge and Chrysler - Plymouth , Eagle was to be an upscale brand name aimed at the fast - growing import market place , where it would presumably win customers from the likes of Toyota , Honda , and Nissan .
Amid grand prognostication for early achiever , Jeep - Eagle opened its doors for model - yr ' 88 . There was no question of continuing the outmoded AMC Eagles ( which buy the farm early in the model year ) , nor the small , problematic Renault Alliance and Encore that AMC had build in Kenosha since 1983 . That left just two remnants of the former Renault regime : the midsize V-6 Premier and the compact four - cylinder Medallion . Both were front - movement Renault designs like Alliance / Encore , but had been rushed to the U.S. just before the Chrysler buyout in a last - ditch effort to reverse sagging AMC sales .
Medallion was a French significance , fundamentally a " federalized " Renault 21 . Premier was a Canadian - built notchback base on the European Renault 30 , arrant with surprisingly dull styling by Giugiaro of Italy .
Both these cars became 1988 Eagles by the bare commutation of a new ( and rather liberal ) badge , but they sold no better as such , being schematic for Renaults but still too quirky for most Americans . Workmanship was also wanting , particularly on the Medallion , which made a fast exit after 1989 .
Premier lasted through 1992 , but only because Renault insisted that Chrysler keep building the car after occupy over AMC . Chrysler attempt hard to satisfy this term , but it was a tough job , and Premier production top out in calendar ' 88 at some 59,000 building block . cut-rate sale then give way fast downhill despite the 1990 summation of a Dodge duplicate resuscitate the Monaco name .
Drawing a sloshed pearl on " import intenders , " Chrysler shifted Eagle to contemporary designing from Japanese partner Mitsubishi . All were " badge - direct " front - driver , and all but one were built in Japan – namely the subcompact car Summit sedans betray from 1989 ( cloned from the Mitsubishi Mirage ) and the suddenly - lived early-’90s " mini - minivan " Summit wagon ( based on Mitsu ’s Expo LRV ) .
Eagle Talon and Eagle Vision
The one " domestic " in the Eagle flock was the sharp Talon sports coupe , which bowed in former 1989 as a spinoff of the new 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse and Plymouth Laser . All three versions were build in Illinois at the new Diamond - Star Motors plant that Chrysler and Mitsubishi had just set up as a 50/50 joint speculation . But though Talon was an partisan ’s pleasure in top - bank line all - wheel - drive turbocharged flesh , it was really a Nipponese cable car and thus another Eagle beyond our scope .
A true American Eagle at long last appeared in the new - for-‘93 Vision . Though this , too , was built in Canada , it was designed in Detroit as one of the " cab - forward " LH sedans localize a bluff young focus for Chrysler styling . Befitting Eagle ’s mission , Vision was conceived as more " European " than the Chrysler Concorde and Dodge Intrepid , but in the agency of corporate cousin it accomplish this largely through appropriate styling detail and feature . Like Intrepid , Vision bow in steady and agio models , severally labeled ESi ( 3.3 - cubic decimeter pushrod V-6 ) and TSi ( twincam 3.5 V-6 ) .
Far more than most habitation - grown four - door , Vision was a credible Euro - manner sport sedan , though it was no BMW . At best , performance was brisk rather than thrilling , but handling was snappy and reactive thanks to the wide - stance LH chassis with all - independent suspension . The TSi even boasted standard all - disc antilock brake and , from 1994 , swiftness - variable quantity power steerage .
Vision also had the appealingly swoopy hack - advancing anatomy that combined with a farseeing 113 - column inch wheelbase to provide outstandingly spacious seating for five . Road racket was annoyingly high and some interior trim looked none too posh . Overall though , Vision was an impressive parcel , earning Consumer Guide ® " Best Buy " honor ( along with its Chrysler LH stable companion ) .
regrettably for mathematical product contriver , Vision gross sales were disappointingly modest , running a poor third to Concorde on only 30 - 40 pct of Intrepid ’s volume . output was around 30,000 for model - twelvemonth ' 93 and mulishly stuck to that level through ' 95 . Price was a likely factor in this lackluster performance . Though Vision was carefully pitch between its LH sis , Eagle dealers plain it was tough to sell because client think it overprice .
Chrysler countered that sight came with more received equipment than comparable Intrepids and Concordes , and urged dealers to make certain customer understood that . If buyers did infer , they did n’t show it , for production of the 1996 - 97 models droop to about 15,500 fuse .
It also did n’t help that the car itself was little changed , though the ' 96 ESi received two suitable raise in stock 16 - inch wheels ( replace fifteen ) and Chrysler ’s Modern AutoStick feature article that allowed the automatic transmission to be budge somewhat like a manual of arms . But the ' 97 Visions were virtual reruns , and Talon sales were languishing , too .
With all this , no one was surprised when Chrysler dropped Vision after ' 97 and Talon after model year ' 98 , thus ending a nameplate that had seemed a unspoiled thought 10 years before , but just did n’t pan out . A prime motivation was Chrysler ’s desire to cut overhead by trimming its bargainer body , which it did over the next few years by combining Jeep - Eagle store with Chrysler - Plymouth outlets wherever practical .
It proved a timely move . Sport - utility vehicles were Jeep ’s stock - in - trade , SUV sales were flourishing , and Jeep ’s image was forever and a day golden . As a result , the new Chrysler - Plymouth - Jeep principal were broadly speaking more - profitable than they ’d been as either vitamin C - atomic number 15 or Jeep - Eagle stores . fellowship accountants cheered .
In the end , Eagle failed because neither Chrysler nor the public knew quite what to make of it . A hodge - podge lineup and patched furtherance implied Chrysler was n’t fully committed to the nameplate and also left consumers confused about what an Eagle was – if they eff the name at all .
The car were far from losers , yet no model achieved the desirability or clear image of moment competition and even some domestic contender . Eagle was no Edsel , but Chrysler should have remembered a deterrent example from that infelicitous Ford experience : Respect for any car is always garner , never bestow .
