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American Motors Corporation (AMC) was an American automobile company formed on January 14 1954 by the merger of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company. At the time, it was the largest corporate merger in U.S. history, valued at $198,000,000.

Declining sales and a fiercely competitive auto market in the United States forced AMC to seek a partner in the late 1970s, which led to an unsuccessful tieup with France's Renault in 1979. The arrangement lasted until March 2, 1987, when American Motors was purchased by the Chrysler Corporation, who discontinued the AMC and Renault brand names, but continued some of the models under the Eagle marque.

For pre 1954 history on Nash, see Nash Motors.
For history on Hudson, see Hudson Motor Car Company.

In January 1954, Nash-Kelvinator Corporation acquired the Hudson Motor Car Company (in what was called a merger) to form American Motors. When the merger was completed in the spring of 1954, Hudson's CEO, A.E. Barit was retained as a consultant and given a Board seat in the new company, and Nash's George W. Mason was made President and CEO of the new concern.

Mason, the architect of the merger, believed that the only chance of survival for America's remaining independent automakers was for them to join forces in one large, mutibrand auto giant, able to challenge General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler as an equal. Mason also entered into informal discussions with James J. Nance of Packard to outline his vision. Nance saw value in the concept, and interim plans were made for AMC to buy Packard Ultramatic automatic transmissions and Packard V8 engines for certain AMC products.

Packard did acquire Studebaker as planned, in 1954, and the resulting Studebaker-Packard Corporation (S-P) cooperated with AMC by making the 352 cubic inch Packard V8 engine available to AMC, and Mason also committed AMC to buy Packard's Ultramatic automatic transmissions for its Ambassador and Rambler models. However, Mason's death in 1954 placed George Romney at the helm of AMC and one of Romney's first official statements a week after Mason's death, as reported in October 25, 1954 edition of Time Magazine, was to announce that there would be no merger talks with Studebaker-Packard "at this time or in the foreseeable future." Romney disagreed with Mason's commitment to buy S-P products. Romney, determined keep AMC's future as an independent under it's own control, ordered AMC engineers to begin development of the company's own V8 engine. For better or worse, both companies had determined to go it alone in the ever competitive automotive market. By 1964, Studebaker production in the United States had ended (its Canadian operations closed in 1966) leaving only the Big Three, AMC and Kaiser Jeep remaining in the North American auto business.

American Motors combined the Nash and the Hudson product lines under a common marketing strategy and dealer network beginning in 1955. The fast selling Rambler model was sold under both the Nash and Hudson labels in its first year and would eventually become the mainstay of the company. The preexisting Nash product line was continued and the Nash Statesman and Ambassador were lightly restyled to become the "new" Hudson Wasp and Hudson Hornet. Hudson aficionados disliked the soft handling and ride of the derisively nicknamed "Hash" models, and sales quickly plummeted. The only Hudson parts on the badge-engineered Nash’s were the instrument cluster and engines. Hudson’s continued to use the Hudson L-head six, with the exception of sharing the same Packard (and later American Motors) designed V8 engines as their Nash counterparts.

For the 1958 model year, the Nash and Hudson brands were dropped in favor of the popular Rambler name, which now became a marque in its own right. The slow-selling, British-built Nash Metropolitan subcompact became its own standalone brand and continued on for a few more years, sharing showroom space with Rambler, finally being dropped after 1962. The prototype 1958 Nash Ambassador / Hudson Hornet, built on a stretched Rambler platform, was renamed at the last minute to "Ambassador by Rambler". To round out the model line, American Motors did something totally unheard of and never successfully duplicated to this day — they reintroduced the old 1955 100" wheelbase Nash Rambler as the new Rambler American with only a few modifications. This gave Rambler a compact lineup with 100" (American), 108" (Rambler Six and Rebel V8), and 117" (Ambassador) wheelbase vehicles.

Although Rambler automobiles were among American Motors' best-known products, company executives attempted to replace the Rambler name with a new name that would better reflect the identity of the parent company. This was a rather dangerous move, replacing a well-known and respected product name for something unknown. Ramblers were best known as economy cars, and top AMC executives wanted to move the company a more up-scale. This led to confusion that the company never recovered from.

The 1966 Marlin and Ambassador lost their Rambler nameplates, and were badged as "American Motors" products. The Rambler brand was completely dropped after the 1969 model year in the U.S. and Canada, although it continued to be used in several overseas markets as either a model or brand name, with the last use in Mexico in 1983. From 1970, "AMC" was the brand used for all American Motors passenger cars, and all vehicles from that date bore the AMC name and the new corporate logo. However, the names "American Motors" and "AMC" were used interchangeably in corporate literature well into the 1980s. The branding issue was further complicated when the company's all-wheel drive passenger cars were initially marketed as the "American Eagle".

American Motors produced a wide range of products during the 1960s, which for the most part were relatively unremarkable. In a continuing quest to match the "Big Three" at every turn, American Motors produced totally conventional cars that were solidly-built and provided good value, but were purely average as far as styling and engineering were concerned. The company did develop some exciting entries for the decade's muscle car boom, most notably the AMX; while the Javelin served as the company's entrant into the pseudo-sporty "pony car" market created by the Ford Mustang.

Sales were strong during the early 1960s, and the company posted healthy profits year after year until 1967 when Roy Abernethy's attempt to meet the Big-Three (GM, Ford, Chrysler) failed. Abernethy believed that AMC's reputation of building reliable economical cars could be translated into a market strategy that could follow AMC buyers as they traded up into larger, more expense vehicles. To accomplish this, Abernethy called for the de-emphasis of the Rambler brand name, and a new line of redesigned cars, especially in the Full and Mid-Sized markets. Launched in the fall of 1967 the cars won acclaim for their fluid styling, but consumers failed to embrace the cars. Sales of the new Rebel and Ambassador models dropped after the introduction because of quality control problems effecting bodies and mechanical issues, resulting in Abernethy's ouster from AMC.

Central to AMC's problems at this time was its cash flow and quality control. Damage control fell to AMC's new CEO, Roy D. Chapin Jr. (son of Hudson Motors founder Roy D. Chapin) who instituted changes to AMC's offerings and tried to regain market share lost by Abernethy's full-line cars in 1967. One of Chapin's programs made Air-Conditioning standard on all 1968 Ambassador models (available as a delete option on custom ordered Ambassadors for fleet sales). This made AMC the first U.S. auto maker to make Air Conditioning standard equipment on its cars, beating out all other makes, including luxury makes Lincoln, Imperial and Cadillac. Additional operating cash was derived through the sale of Kelvinator Appliance, once one of its core operating units, in 1968.

Chapin also expanded American Motors product line in 1970, through the purchase of the Kaiser-Jeep Corporation (formerly Willys-Overland) from Kaiser Industries. This added the iconic Jeep brand of light trucks and SUVs, as well as Kaiser-Jeep's lucrative government contracts — notably the M151 line of military Jeeps and the DJ-Series postal Jeeps. The military and special products business was reconstituted as American Motors General Products Division, later reorganized as AM General.

Thus the 1970s started off on a high note, yet things quickly went sour for American Motors. 1970 marked the end of Rambler and the consolidation of all passenger cars under one distinct brand identity (more or less). It also marked the debut of the AMC Hornet range of compact cars, which would ultimately lead a much longer life than originally envisioned.

Always looking for a way to stretch research and development dollars, American Motors used the Hornet platform and body shell to create one of the first American-built subcompacts — the AMC Gremlin, which arrived in the spring of 1970. The Gremlin went on to become American Motors' best-selling passenger car with well over 700,000 units sold before the end of production in 1978.

The highly successful product launches of the Hornet and Gremlin convinced AMC to continue with new product developments. The new mid-sized AMC Matador arrived for 1971 as a replacement for the Rebel. Starting in 1974, the Matador mutated into two distinctive products with the same name. There were the sedans and station wagons, and the coupes, which looked completely different. After 1974 the Matador sedan and wagon took the place of the discontinued Ambassador as AMCs flagship model. An Ambassador had been made by Nash and AMC from 1932 to 1974, the longest used nameplate of any AMC product.

Although the Matador Coupe was an attractive package to some consumers, sales never lived up to expectations and the line was dropped after 1978. Contradictory figures from AMC, ranging anywhere from $350 to over $600 per car sold, for the Matador coupe's development and tooling costs, make it impossible to determine how much money, if any, AMC actually lost on the coupe, which shared few components other than the suspension and drivetrain with the sedans. Most of the tooling for the sedans and wagons dated back to 1967 and had long been paid for. By 1978 sales of the long-in-the-tooth design were low enough that it too was dropped along with the sleek coupe.

The AMC Pacer, introduced in 1975, was an innovative gamble and another well-intentioned entry into the market AMC seemed to know best. The development of the Pacer prior to its 1975 introduction coincided with two developments in U.S. Federal passenger auto laws. The first, the reduction in allowed passenger auto engine emissions would have been met by the use of the Wankel type engine whose exterior compactness allowed for extensive engine bay emission control equipment. The second, increases in U.S. passenger auto safety laws was met by the designed-in safety features such as internal door beams and other features related to then newly mandated auto safety features. However, the inclusion of many Federal mandated safety features, the wide exterior and extensive window glass caused the Pacer to be very heavy for it's exterior length.

Billed as "the first wide small car", the Pacer was an attempt to build a subcompact car with the comfort of a full-sized one. To this end, the car was as wide as a typical Cadillac of the day, yet no longer than the Gremlin. This provided the same front seat space as a luxury car within the length of a typical compact. Further passenger space was gained through AMC's ingenious "cab forward" design technology, introduced on the Pacer. Nicknamed a "fishbowl on wheels", the Pacer featured bulbous, wrap around window glass, accounting for 35% of the car's surface area, eliminating blind spots. Among other unique features, the passenger door was four inches longer than the driver's door, to facilitate curb-side back seat access.

American Motors planned to use a General Motors-built Wankel rotary engine for the Pacer, but was forced to use their existing 258 in³ I6 when GM aborted their rotary engine development program due to, among others factors, the excessive fuel consumption of the Wankel engine compared to conventional piston engines with the same power output. This was during the period of the Arab Oil Embargo in 1973. The six resulted in poor fuel economy for the car's size, largely defeating the purpose of a compact. An attempt to provide a more fuel efficient option was to offer a US produced 121 in³ (2.0 L) 4 cylinder Volkswagen designed Audi engine which AMC produced for a short period under the AMC name (see below under engines). In addition, the Pacer was all-new except for the drive train, sharing virtually no components with other AMC cars. This made it expensive to produce, and when sales took a steep fall after the first two years, the manufacturing cost per vehicle skyrocketed. The failure of the Pacer would ultimately doom AMC, as its development and production costs drained corporate accounts of much needed capital which could have been used to update and modernize the already popular Hornet and Gremlin lines.

The Pacer was finally dropped after the 1980 model year. By that time, American Motors was on the brink of bankruptcy, forcing difficult cost-cutting. A whole new line of large prestige cars planned to replace the slow-selling Matador was cancelled. The aging Hornet was hastily face-lifted to create the "new" 1978 AMC Concord, the higher trim levels of which were intended to partially compensate for the departed Matador. The Hornet-derived Gremlin was lightly updated to create the 1979 Spirit coupe, while a Spirit sedan was created by tacking new front and back ends onto the Gremlin's 2-door center section. In a last-ditch attempt to relive past glories, the AMX name was revived for a lightly uprated sports version of the Spirit sedan.

This round of facelifts and rebranding of outdated cars was hardly a permanent fix regardless of the initial success of products like the Concord. American Motors desperately needed truly new, modern products but lacked the capital and resources to develop them. The only alternative was to seek a partner to invest in the business. In 1979, American Motors found a ready partner in the French automaker Renault. Under the terms of the American Motors-Renault alliance, the French company purchased a 5% interest in American Motors and provided $135 million in the form of a loan to help shore up the business. In exchange, American Motors would act as the North American importer and distributor of Renault products, which would be sold through the existing AMC-Jeep dealer network. A new line of Renault-designed, modern front-wheel drive cars would be produced by American Motors at their Kenosha plant. The first new product resulting from this partnership was the 1983 Renault Alliance, a compact sedan. A virtually identical hatchback version was also produced, badged as the Renault Encore. Due to the ever-worsening financial situation at American Motors, Renault was forced to increase their stake in the company several times to keep it solvent, reaching a 49% ownership in 1983. AMC's ownership by Renault ended its run as a truly American car company.

Following the 1983 model year, the AMC brand was pared down to a single model — the four wheel drive Eagle line. From that point on, the focus of the company would be on the Renault and Jeep brands.

Introduced in 1980, the Eagle was a trend-setting four-wheel drive car consisting of a Concord body shell mounted on an all-new platform developed by American Motors engineers during the late 1970s. The Eagle become one of AMC's best-known products and is considered to be one of the first "crossover SUVs". Under its familiar body, the Eagle featured some truly revolutionary engineering. The drive train was the world's first true full-time all wheel drive system. Not surprisingly, most Eagles were sold in snow-prone states. Per AMC tradition, sales were strong for the first year or two, then tapered off dramatically. Whatever the Eagle's merits, it may be that customers had simply grown tired of the styling, which dated back to the 1970 Hornet.

In the early 1980s, the Jeep division popularized the compact SUV with its introductions of the downsized Jeep Cherokee and Wagoneer in 1983. These vehicles initially used the AMC 2.5 L OHV four-cylinder engine with a carburetor and optionally a General Motors-built 2.8 L, carbureted V6. After 1986, throttle-body injection replaced the carburetor on the 2.5 L I4 engines. A Renault Turbo-Diesel I4 diesel was also offered. 1987 models used the "new" 4.0 L (242 in³) I6 engine, derived from the older 4.2 L (258 in³) I6 with a new head design and an electronic fuel injection system designed with help from Renault, utilizing Renault-Bendix (Renix) parts.

One older design was kept — the Grand Wagoneer full-size luxury SUV and the related J-Series pickups continued to be built on the same chassis as the earlier SJ model Wagoneers and Cherokees that dated from 1963, with the AMC 360 in³ V8 (the engine and the Grand Wagoneer ceased production after 1991; the pickups were dropped after 1987). The AMC Concord and Spirit were dropped after 1983, with no attempts at replacements. The AMC Eagle was continued, and in station wagon form lasted through the 1988 model year.

Because AMC's profitable AM General subsidiary was a major defense contractor, American Motors was forced to sell the business as Renault increased its ownership of AMC, since the US government would not allow a foreign government to own a significant portion of an important defense supplier. (Renault was partially owned by the French government.)

AMC's woes did not end with Renault's taking control. Renault itself was experiencing financial troubles of its own in France. The massive investment in American Motors, including construction of a new Canadian assembly plant in Brampton, Ontario forced cuts at home, resulting in the closure of several French plants and mass layoffs. Public anger built against Renault's president, Georges Besse, who believed strongly in the importance of the North American market. This was undoubtedly the primary motive behind his November 1986 assassination. The company's new president set out to repair employee relations and put the company back on a sound financial footing through the divestiture of American Motors.

In March 1987, Renault's stake in AMC was purchased by Chrysler, along with rest of the company's shares. Following a small run of 1988 Eagle station wagons, the AMC brand was dropped. The sale of American Motors came at an ironic time — the automotive press was very enthusiastic about the proposed 1988 lineup of Renault and Jeep vehicles, some even speculating AMC/Renault finally had a winning hand that could turn the company around.

At that point, Renault permanently departed from the North American market, and has put any plans of return on indefinite hiatus, but has a vicarious presence in North America through its ownership of Nissan.

As a replacement for AMC, Chrysler created the Eagle brand, taking the name from AMC's last product. The remains of American Motors were consolidated into the Jeep-Eagle Division of the Chrysler Corporation. While the Eagle brand would turn out to be a disappointment (Chrysler discontinued the brand in 1998), the Jeep brand was profitable, mostly because of the growing demand for SUVs in the 1990s following the introduction of the Ford Explorer.

AMC was forced to constantly innovate for 33 years until Chrysler extinguished it in a merger. Moreover, the lessons learned from this experience were integrated into the company that bought AMC. The organization, strategies, as well as several key executives allowed Chrysler to gain an edge on the competition. Even today, the lessons gained from the AMC experience continue to provide benefits to other firms in the industry.

One contribution was AMC’s ability to formulate business strategies that were most often evaluated by industry critics as “strokes of brilliance” (Higgins, 2001). According to Chapin, AMC realized they were up against the giants of the industry, so to compete successfully; they had to be able to move quickly and with ingenuity (Higgins, 2001). An essential strategy practiced by AMC was to rely on outside vendors to supply components in which they had differential advantages. This policy had finally been accepted in the industry after each of the Big Three experienced the failure of attempting to be self-sufficient. An example of AMC’s agility was the ability of management to squeeze money out of reluctant bankers even in the face of bankruptcy. These strategies worked to help save the company from destruction and after each obstacle, give it the wherewithal to keep it operating a few more years. Ironically, AMC was never stronger than just before its demise (Higgins, 2001).

Studying the history of this company provides insight into some of these decision-making problems American Motors faced and illustrates that strategic planning is not a linear function. While conducting a business strategy that was focused on chronic trouble-shooting -- AMC’s managers were also able to correctly anticipate many of the most important trends in the automotive industry. For example, it preached fuel efficiency long before auto buyers demanded it. Also, AMC sought out partnerships in manufacturing and sales worldwide, decades before any of the international consolidations among automobile makers took place. AMC was first in seeking refuge with a foreign automaker, Renault, to keep operating. The small company was able to introduce numerous innovations. Even one of AMC’s most expensive new product investments -- the Pacer -- established many features that were later adopted by the auto industry worldwide. These included aerodynamic body design, space-efficient interiors, aircraft style doors, and a large greenhouse for visibility. AMC’s four-wheel drive vehicles established the foundation for today’s SUV market and the “classic” Jeep models continue to be the benchmark in this field. Not only was AMC successful in strategic management for 33 years given the daunting competitive environment it was also effective in other areas such as marketing. For example, Chapin drew on his experiences as a hunter and fisherman. He marketed the Jeep brand successfully to people like himself that the brand developed a cult appeal that remains to this day (Fracassa, 2001).

According to Robert Lutz, former President of Chrysler, the AMC acquisition was a big and risky undertaking (Lutz, 1998). The purchase was part of Chrysler’s strategic “retreat-cum-diversification” plan that he states did not have the right focus. Initially the purchase was to obtain the world-renowned Jeep brand. However, Lutz discovered that the decision to incorporate AMC was a gold mine for Chrysler (Lutz 1998, p. 16). Chrysler’s management was attempting to find a model to improve structure and operations -- “something that would help get our minds unstuck and thinking beyond the old paradigms that we were so familiar with” (Lutz, p. 31). In this transformation, “Chrysler’s acquisition of AMC was one of the all-time great moments in corporate serendipity” according to Lutz “that most definitely played a key role in demonstrating how to accomplish change” (Lutz, p. 31).

According to Lutz (1993) while AMC had its share of problems -- it was far from being a bunch of “brain-dead losers”. He describes the “troops” at AMC as more like Wake Island marines: “with almost no resources, and fighting a vastly superior enemy, they were able to roll out an impressive succession of new products” (Lutz, p. 33). After first reacting with anger to the purchase, Chrysler managers soon anticipated the benefits. To further solidify the organizational competencies held by AMC, Lee Iacocca agreed to retain former AMC units, such as engineering, completely intact. In addition, AMC’s lead engineer, Francois Castaing, was made head of all engineering at Chrysler. In an unthinkable strategic move, Castaing completely dismantled the entrenched Chrysler groups. In their place AMC’s “platform teams” were implemented. These were close-knit cross-functional groups responsible for the whole vehicle, as contrasted with Chrysler’s highly functional structure. In this capacity, Castaing’s strategy was to eliminate the corporate administrative overhead bureaucracy. This move shifted corporate culture and agitated veteran executives who believed that Chrysler’s reputation as “the engineering company” was being destroyed. Yet, according to the popular press, by the 1980’s Chrysler’s reputation was totally shot, and by Lutz’s view only dramatic action was going to change that (Lutz, p. 33). In summary, Chrysler’s purchase of AMC laid the critical foundation to help re-establish a strategy for its revival in the 1990s.

Perhaps most interesting is that top managers at Chrysler after the AMC buyout appear to have made errors similar to those by AMC. For example, Chrysler invested heavily in new untested models while not keeping up its “bread and butter” lines. DaimlerChrysler has run into the same problem of having too many platforms. After the buyout of Chrysler, Mercedes Benz managers were protective of their designs and components. This created needless costs. They could have observed the experience of Nash and Hudson merger to help achieve manufacturing efficiencies and savings from component sharing.

In the most recent examples of corporate strategy, the lessons learned from AMC continue to be implemented. The AMC beat goes on at General Motors. AM General is now marketed of GM and their H1 is the original AMC design. Furthermore, after having been the laughingstock of the industry for decades, General Motors has recruited a new executive team to turn itself from its near bankruptcy. Among the new strategists at GM is Lutz who brings with him an understanding of the importance of passion in the product design. According to Taylor (2002), Lutz has implemented a new thinking at GM that incorporates the systems and structures that originated from AMC’s lean and focused operations.

Renault has recently implemented the lessons it learned from AMC. The French firm took a parallel approach as it did with its initial ownership of AMC and applied it to resurrect the money-loosing Nissan automaker in Japan.

Chrysler continued the Jeep XJ Cherokee with the 4.0 L engine (used until 2007 by DaimlerChrysler in the Jeep Wrangler). The Spirit name, which was discontinued in 1983, was placed on one of Chrysler's A platform cars and was sold as the Dodge Spirit. The planned Renault Medallion was sold as the Eagle Medallion in 1988 and 1989. A Renault/AMC concept, the Summit (slated to replace the Eagle station wagon), was produced by Mitsubishi Motors beginning in 1989. The planned all-new 1988 Renault Premier, a joint development effort between American Motors and Renault, and for which the Bramalea plant (Brampton, Ontario) was built, was sold by Chrysler as the 1988-1992 Eagle Premier, with a rebadged Dodge Monaco variant for 1990-1992. Incorporating the cab-forward design introduced on the 1975 Pacer, the Premier's platform was far more advanced than anything Chrysler was building at the time, and after some re-engineering and a re-designation to Chrysler code LH, the Eagle Premier went on to form the backbone of Chrysler's passenger car lineup during the 1990s as the Chrysler Concorde (another revived AMC model name), Chrysler New Yorker, Chrysler LHS, Dodge Intrepid, and the Eagle Vision. The Chrysler 300M was likewise a Premier/LH-derived car and was initially to have been the next-generation Eagle Vision until the Eagle brand was dropped.

The American Motors-developed Jeeps survived for some time under Chrysler. The Comanche pickup truck lasted until 1992, while the Cherokee remained until 2001 in the United States (the XJ Cherokee is still produced in China as the Cherokee 2500). Although it was not introduced until 1993, the Jeep Grand Cherokee was initially an AMC-developed vehicle. The current Jeep Wrangler, in production since 1997, is really a lightly updated development of the original American Motors-designed Wrangler introduced in 1986 for the 1987 model year.

Other traces of AMC remain within the present-day DaimlerChrysler. AMC's Toledo, Ohio plants continue to turn out Jeep Wranglers and Libertys as well as parts and components for Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep vehicles (although Toledo Machining and Forge is slated for closure as of 2005). AMC's main plant in Wisconsin is still active, albeit heavily downsized, as the Kenosha Engine Plant, producing engines for several Chrysler Group products, including the Wrangler. AMC's technologically advanced Bramalea Assembly and Stamping Plants in Brampton, Ontario (recently completed at the time of the Chrysler takeover) are still active, and now produce the best-selling LX-cars — the Dodge Charger, Dodge Magnum, and the Chrysler 300.

AM General, sold by American Motors in 1982, is still in business building the likewise American Motors-designed High Mobility Multi-Wheel Vehicle (HMMWV - "Humvee") for the American and allied militaries. AM General also builds the civilian variant — the H1 — and a Chevrolet Tahoe-derived companion, the H2, under contract to General Motors, new owners of the civilian Hummer brand.

The American Motors Corporation's death was recent enough that a handful of AMC Eagles are still on the roads under their original owners. Their numbers dwindle with each passing year, however, and since most AMC vehicles never really attained "collector" status, cars fully restored by auto enthusiasts are also quite rare.

As numbers dwindle and prices for more popular collector cars continue to rise, some collectors are starting to pay more attention to AMC vehicles. Prices for the more popular collector models (Javelin, AMX, and a few specials such as the 1957 Rambler Rebel, 1965-67 Rambler Marlin, 1969 Hurst SC/Rambler, 1970 Rebel Machine, and 1971 Hornet SC/360), which have always had a small but enthusiastic following, are already rising at a rapid pace. It will be a long time before the "bread and butter" Hornets, Gremlins, Concords, and Pacers will be very collectable, but many AMC models are now considered "future collectables" and often appear on bargain lists in American collector car magazines.

During its long history, American Motors bought, sold and spun-off many components. Some of these still exist today, albeit in vastly changed forms. A brief look the remaining components and "where they are today":

• Kelvinator, the largely ignored half of Nash-Kelvinator, is essentially the last man standing. Sold off by American Motors in 1958 and now owned by Electrolux, the Kelvinator Company is still in business.
• Jeep is now a brand of the Chrysler Group, a unit of DaimlerChrysler A.G. Many Jeep models retained the mechanical specs and styling cues developed by AMC well into the 1990s.
• AM General Corporation survives, now owned by McAndrews and Forbes Holdings and Renco.
• Wheel Horse Products Division — now owned by Toro Lawnmower Products.

Many of the facilities used to produce American Motors vehicles and sub-assemblies are still in use. These include:

• Toledo North and South Assembly Plants — still in use by DaimlerChrysler. Still visible on most of the signage on the outside of the factories are areas where Chrylser painted over the AMC logo.
• Toledo Machining and Forge — still in use by DaimlerChrysler
• Brampton (formerly Bramalea) Assembly and Satellite Stamping Plants — still in use by DaimlerChrysler
• Kenosha Engine Plant — still in use by DaimlerChrysler
• "American Center" — AMC's corporate headquarters in the Detroit area is still standing, still open, and still called "American Center". The original "American Center" signage at the top of the building remains, although the AMC logo has been removed. The building is rented to several different organizations and companies as office space. None of the office space is occupied by DaimlerChrysler or any other entity related to AMC.

• 1958–1962*: Metropolitan**
• 1970–1978: AMC Gremlin
• 1979–1983: AMC Spirit
• 1981–1983: Eagle SX/4 (including Kammback)
• 1983–1987: Renault Alliance based on the Renault 9. *1984–1987: Renault Encore — based on the Renault 11.

^* — American Motors 1958-62. See article for details.
** — The Gremlin was the company's first true subcompact.