At a gathering in June 1971 to study unused automobile designs, Meyers didn’t deal with any of the proposals from designers. Teague upcoming proposed a large, mini automobile with numerous glass. He sketched what he upcoming known as a “grubby doodle” — a four-wheeled soccer coated in glass with a roll bar within the center. It changed into the Pacer and was once presented in 1975, to preliminary luck, with first-year gross sales that crowned 100,000.
“We saw the Megalopolis — these urban sprawls that extend from Los Angeles to San Diego with no break,” Meyers recalled upcoming. “And congestion, pollution, noise, energy shortages. From this we began to piece together the key ingredients for the Pacer. It wasn’t going to be just another car but a whole new method of transportation for the next decade.”
Past battles with the government over protection and emissions mandates that drove up the fee and value of vehicles, Meyers, as CEO, explored mergers with Ecu automakers desperate to extend out of the country however with slight distribution within the U.S.
In funny offer from overseas automakers, he known as AMC’s U.S. broker community the “last great hope to get instant distribution in volume for cars produced someplace else.”
He discovered British Leyland, which owned Jaguar, MG and Land Rover on the month, a in particular fascinating corporate. However next a courtship with Peugeot didn’t materialize, French automaker Renault started making an investment in American Motors in 1979 and sooner or later took regulate of the crippled corporate in 1980 earlier than promoting it to Chrysler in 1987.
