Except GM has been breaking up - haven't they axed Olds, and they're about to drop Buick as a brand as well? And I've heard they're going to spin off AM General (started by AMC for military contracts, after Renault bought much of AMC...)
And yes, AMC designed the XJ and MJ (with significant assistance from Renault. IIRC, the XJ was the first unibody design AMC had worked on - unless I'm remembering wrong, and the Eagle was first. Renault provided unibody expertise and computer power for FEM of the new chassis,) and laid the groundwork for the ZJ.
Amazing, tho, how many designs outlasted the companies that designed them - in their basic form, anyhow...
Kaiser hung around until the SJ was dropped in for 1992.
AMC until the XJ fell in 2001, the MJ in 1992, the YJ in 1995, and the ZJ for 1999. AMC engines also outlasted the company - the 4.0L was in productinon vehicles until the 2007 Model Year, and the 2.46L was last used in the Dakota in 2002. AMC V8s fell with the SJ for 1992 (360ci.)
Frankly, if I had the money, I'd like to buy Jeep myself and turn them around. While there are many who are looking for road manners and suchlike in their trucks (why for?) there are also those of us die-hards who want trucks that can be used like trucks, that handle like trucks, and that are not cars by any stretch of the imagination! Real 4WD with a useful low range, useful transmission gearing, useful rearend gearing, good torque curves on the engine, SLA fore and aft, and "large enough to be useful/small enough to be nimble." Is that so much to ask? Given what I've been seeing coming out of automakers, it shouldn't be that hard - Hell, someone has come out with an eight-pax SUV this year! And I thought seven-pax was overkill...
