Renault Alliance

Competition from the "Big Three," the rise of Asian import automobiles, new safety regulations, the 1973 oil crisis, and 1979 energy crisis left American Motors in a weak position in the U.S. marketplace. The company had three product lines: a profitable line of government vehicles, Jeeps, and passenger cars. However, sales dropped suddenly in 1979 with a declining economy meaning all four of the U.S. automakers saw their sales plummet, but this decline was dangerous to AMC's survival with only 2% share of the U.S. passenger car market. As the U.S. economy entered the early 1980s recession, AMC signed an agreement with Renault giving a share in AMC's ownership in exchange for the rights to sell Renault cars in the U.S. During the time when Chrysler received US$1.5 billion in loan guarantees when Congress passed the "Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979", AMC was not considered by lawmakers to be "too big to fail" and thus the smallest U.S. automaker sought assistance from the French government-owned company. By the end of 1980, Renault held a controlling interest of AMC. Some called it "Franco-American Motors," a pun on the French-American combination and the Franco-American food company. With the United States dollar then relatively weak against the French franc, manufacturing in the U.S. seemed the best way to grow especially since fuel prices were rising and the major U.S. carmakers had yet to bring out large numbers of small, fuel-efficient cars. The two automakers worked closely as each design studio developed spin-offs of cars created by the other. Richard Teague, AMC's Vice President of Design, and his French counterpart, Robert Opron, director of Renault Styling, each traveled between France and the U.S. at least three times a year. Renault executives came in to run things alongside AMC officials, and the veritable factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin was retooled to produce an Americanized version of the European Renault 9 subcompact under the "Alliance" nameplate. Market research indicated that consumers preferred the Renault name over AMC, though not strongly. The model was named the Renault Alliance, with the AMC logo only on a small sticker affixed on the inside of the rear window, as well as printed at the bottom or back of the advertising materials. == Model years ==

equivalent of the U.S. hatchback Encore For context of the era, the Alliance was launched into the U.S. subcompact market segment that included the Chevrolet Chevette, a basic and dated rear-wheel drive car; the Toyota Corolla E70 with a good reputation, but also still featuring an outdated design and rear-drive layout, the Volkswagen "Rabbit", the first-generation replacement for the original Beetle; the four-year old Chrysler twins Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon that were less fuel efficient; the simple Honda Civic (second generation) with a high rating and a matching high price; and none of them could come anywhere close to high level of Alliance's passenger comfort. 1983 The Alliance was a 2- or 4-door sedan, launched in June 1982 as a 1983 model after a US$150 million overhaul of AMC's Kenosha, Wisconsin, assembly plant. Although it was branded as a Renault, the car bore AMC's logo on a rear window decal and was officially classified as a domestic automobile because it had more than 70% U.S.-produced parts. The Alliance was a modern front-drive sedan with a overall length on a wheelbase featuring a thrifty, transverse four-cylinder engine. Fuel economy on the highway with the 5-speed manual transmission approached . It was a sensible car for a post-oil crisis period in which good fuel economy was highly prized. The Alliance used a Renault supplied OHV 1.4 L I4 engine from the Renault Le Car. Cars sold in 49-states came with a Renix throttle-body fuel injection, while California emissions standards required the use of multi port injection. Although Renault transmissions have been equipped with Renix based electronics and sensor assemblies, the all-new electronic controlled transmission system in the Alliance was an innovation to the U.S. mass-market. Power went through either a four-or five-speed manual, or a three-speed automatic transaxle. The base engine produced to accelerate the Alliance from 0 to 60 mph in 14.3 seconds, and gave it an top speed. California engines featured a Bosch LU multi-point fuel-injection system. According to Jose Dedeurwaerder, a Renault executive who became AMC's president, 1984 was profitable for AMC on an annual basis for the first time since 1979 during which the automaker lost $637.6 million. The fully pressurized cooling system eliminated corrosive oxygen while engineers reduced the number of connections to avoid coolant leaks for both the 1.7 and 1.4 engines. The design was in collaboration with American Sunroof Company (now American Specialty Cars) that reinforced the Alliance's unibody for torsional rigidity during manufacture in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Increasing competition in the subcompact market segment from imported vehicles meant that total Alliance and Encore sales fell to 150,000 for 1985. 1986 Improving economic conditions and lower gasoline prices meant total sales dropped to 65,000 in 1986. American Motors had already stopped production of the Concord and Spirit in 1983 (the four-wheel drive AMC Eagle continued to be built), while the larger Medallion (to replace the Renault 18) was not going to be ready until 1987. The automaker offered zero-interest financing on the Alliance and Encore models in the fall of 1986. By mid-December 1986, around 2,000 hourly employees at its Kenosha factory were put on temporary layoff through the first week of January to balance inventory with sales of the Alliance. 1987 A separate model was added for the 1987 model year, the GTA that offered higher performance and its name recalled the Alpine GTA. The focus of Chrysler's acquisition was on the highly profitable Jeep vehicles and the brand-new Brampton Assembly plant that was just built in Ontario, Canada. Nevertheless, press kits were prepared for the 1988 models and early media reports of upcoming 1988 cars stated "with the buy-out of American Motors, Chrysler will continue to market the subcompact Renault Alliance..." Alliance production at the Kenosha plant closed out as of Friday, June 5, 1987. With AMC's acquisition, Chrysler saw itself "saddled with a largely unsuccessful assortment of cars" including imports from Renault. Moreover, the Alliance line of passenger automobiles did not fit in Chrysler's existing product mix. The final year saw about 35,000 Alliances sold in 1987. ==GTA==

The Renault GTA was a performance version of the Alliance for the 1987 model year. It replicated what Volkswagen had done when the Rabbit was upgraded into the GTI. The GTA was available in 2-door sedan or convertible versions, with a single powerplant: a 2.0 L fuel-injected 4-cylinder engine. At 4900 rpm with premium U.S. gasoline, this engine developed . Driving performance of the vehicle included a 10.2 second mark for 0 to 60 mph and a .89 g-force cornering rating in road tests conducted by Car and Driver magazine. The GTA used the same uni-body as the two-door Alliances, but was distinctive to the other models. It was available only in silver, white, red, or black monochrome body paint with special color-keyed "ground effects" bodyside cladding styled by Zender of West Germany, one of Europe's leading after-market designers. An automatic transmission was not available. Road test of the GTA described it to be quite comfortable with responsive handling that "was particularly impressive on tortuous back roads. It just hung in there like a sports car under the most trying conditions ... Hard acceleration will usually result in spinning wheels and a good deal of torque steer." However, the models were discontinued when Chrysler bought AMC and Renault pulled out of the U.S. market. == Reception ==

The Renault 9 was voted the 1982 European Car of the Year. It became France's most popular car and Renault's best selling model ever. The magazine's editors wrote that it "represents a blending of compact dimensions, surprising creature comfort, excellent fuel economy, good looks and very pleasing over-the-road behavior." thus qualifying it as a domestic vehicle, and making it the first car (in 1983) with a foreign nameplate to win the Motor Trend Car of the Year award. Motor Trend subsequently dropped the distinction between domestic and imported vehicles for the award in 2000. A long-term test of a four-door Alliance by Popular Mechanics described the car as "economical, well-built and has superb ride quality" summarizing that "it's nearly perfect." The engine was smooth, refined, and built tight, but difficult to "keep on cam" with the automatic transmission. The magazine's editor-in-chief, John Linkletter, addressed the findings that, "the old canard about shoddy American craftsmanship suffers" and that "an American manufacturer and a foreign manufacturer can, in a combined effort, produce a very good car." In 1983, Popular Science described that, "Renault will find its reputation dramatically brightened when word of the AMC Alliance gets around." The report expanded, "The new Alliance is a miracle for AMC. Not only does it show a general excellence in construction and appointments, it's also a state-of-the-art front-wheel-drive that AMC could not have produced on its own. Combine those three elements and you have tough competition for the Escort, Chevette and Horizon and the imports, and a product that comes close to being the best in its class." After a long-term road test conducted by Popular Mechanics of a four-door with a 1.7 L and automatic transmission setup in 1985, and summarized the experience as a "faithful servant", but a "generic no-frills car" - except for the unusual steering wheel stalks - that "nothing gave us pause" with their "compliant appliance". By 1986, a Popular Science comparison with newly introduced Asian-built competing cars, the Renault Alliance was described as the oldest design, and "felt the most refined." The road test noted the Renault did well in the tests with "trunk and doors closed with an almost Mercedes-like clunk" and "the car's excellent handling" allowing to remain poised through potholes and "stable when passed by large tractor-trailer trucks." In 1987, the New York Times reported, "despite the favorable early response to products like the Alliance and the Encore, the models failed to generate enough sales to prevent AMC's share of the car market from declining to about 1 percent." == Racing series ==

The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) spec-racing series Renault LeCar Cup was successful, and while relatively underpowered with its "fuel sipping" 1.4 L engine, the Alliance's "excellent" ride and handling compared to the other small cars sold in America at the time, was an advantage that contributed to establishing the Alliance Cup in 1983. Modifications to the showroom stock cars were limited to fitting a roll cage, free flow exhaust, upgraded shock absorbers, as well as wider rims and tires. The Alliance provided many donor parts (engine and suspension) for the Sports Renault race car, a single make series created by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1984. Designed by Roy Lunn, it was a low-cost purpose-built racer. The car was developed and manufactured by Renault/Jeep Sport USA in Livonia, Michigan, under direction of Vic Elford; with more than five hundred were built. Most cars still exist, although the majority have been converted to use a Ford engine (thus now known as Spec Racer Fords), and run in the SCCA club-racing program. == Legacy ==

The 1983 Motor Trend Car of the Year award for the Renault Alliance was an industry-wide recognition that contributed to increased sales, as well as to AMC's profits of about $15 million in 1984 (US$ in dollars). The Alliance afforded AMC the opportunity to field a new compact car without the expense of its design and tooling, still the business relationship with Renault exacted a heavy price on the U.S. company. The automaker was required to shed its profitable AM General line of commercial and military vehicles because of U.S. Government regulations prohibiting foreign companies from owning domestic military suppliers. Automotive journalist Gary Witzenburg noted that the Alliance sedan's "excellent reputation and phenomenal first-year success" caused AMC to stop production of its larger and older Spirit and Concord with the introduction of the new hatchback versions under a different name. The initial positive reception and the "impressive" sales total of 200,000 Alliances by the end of 1984 was later hindered by the market offer of only two models while the competition was offering with a wider range of cars for the market segments. Renault failed to fully accommodate the European-origin cars to U.S. market demands. These included the Alliance's less powerful engine whose output was further limited by the more demanding U.S. emission requirements, as well as the popularity of air conditioning in the U.S. when it was seldom ordered by European customers. == Notes ==