ABSTRACT
The 6,500 auto workers of Kenosha, Wisconsin, cheered Chrysler’s announcement of 9 March 1987 that it was acquiring 46 per cent of American Motors from Renault for $1.5 billion and was offering to buy up other shares in order to obtain majority control. Renault had bought AMC stock in 1979 for $405 million and had arranged for the Kenosha plant to start building its cars three years later. During the five years of production at Kenosha, more than 600,000 Renaults were assembled, including over 200,000 during the 1984 model year, but the arrangement never proved profitable to the French company. After years of uncertainty while AMC struggled to survive, the future of the company’s massive ‘home’ assembly plant in Kenosha finally appeared safe in Chrysler’s hands.
