Duffel bags of patina. They pretty much owned the place after Renault needed a marketing channel to peddle their quirky small cars and AMC had the dealers and service operations in place to do so. American Motors also needed lots of francs to compete with the Big Three. Its model lineup was ancient and gas thirsty, and Renault sold small cars that were at least up to date, if not exactly exciting.
With the weak dollar, the only hope of making money on the project was to build the cars here and sell them as Renaults. This should have been a blaring master alarm, but the scheme went ahead as planned. The Alliance moniker was picked to symbolize the loveless marriage between the two erstwhile partners. The base 1. If they wanted maddeningly slow gitty up, they could spec the car with a sloppy three speed automatic.
Against all logic, the Alliance was a smash. Sales were an astonishing , in the first year. The Encore was just a hatchback version of the Alliance.
But the momentum that the Alliance built was short lived. Alliances are tough to find in running condition these days. Thus the attrition rate is astronomical. This example sports the 1. With an asking price just a couple of hundred bucks more than crush value, maybe it will get a new owner that will keep it on the road for a few more years. Ahhhh β the Renault Appliance. I recall going to my local auto show one year and seeing one of these that actually made me want to open the door and sit in it β the convertible.
I wonder how many of those were actually made. My wife has a cousin who bought one of these new and drove it for a long, long, long time. They may be the only husband and wife with an Appliance and an Eagle Vision which they still have, I believe. I love this car and it still runs like a champ.
