And Jim Lill replied:
It was made at Franciase Mechanique (sp?) which is jointly owned bt PSA and
Renault
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The Eagle Premier/Dodge Monaco was a heavily modified Renault R25 built by
Chrysler in Canada at the plant which now builds the Dodge Intrepid/Chryslyer
LX and variants. One of the main attractions to Chrysler for this was that
Volvo had already obtained emissions certification for their version of the
PRV V6, then installed in Volvo 7xx and 9xx models.
The Euro-version Renault R25 was already an undistinguished car, the epitome
of the Regie's 1980s conservatism, and Chrysler took this even further by
redesigning the original hatchback body to a separate trunk, ruining the
suspension in an effort to emulate the traditional US marshmallow ride, and
using a wierd column shift autobox as the sole transmission. Quality control
on these cars was atrocious, with the paint already peeling off while still
on the delivery trucks. I test drove one of these when new. To say it rode
and handled like a drunken yak would be charitable.
Chrysler had just bought Jeep, and they made a half-hearted attempt to create
a new brand, Eagle, to allow Jeep dealers to offer a full line. Of course,
most full-line dealers would now happily dump cars and just sell Jeeps and
other "Sport" (sic) Utility trucks. Chrysler made some noises about
positioning Eagle as an American nameplate with European panache, but the
Premier is proof of just how clueless they were. Amazingly, it took a
Franchman, Francois Castaing, to teach Chrysler to think.
Rob Gold