The last large French car to make any lasting international impact was probably the Citroen DS, as France has long had an awkward relationship with the large car – a national political ambition to build a car to truly rival BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz repeatedly clashed with the country’s tax regime and the French driver’s apparent lack of interest. So, there came a series of cars that were seemingly specified for government ministers or were just large cars, if not prestige cars.
Renault tried to change this in 1975 with the Renault 30, sharing its V6 with the Volvo 264 and Peugeot 604. The four cylinder Renault 20 followed a year later, which didn’t add to the prestige claim, especially when it was viewed as a Renault 16 successor.
The Renault 25 was the next in this line, replacing both the 20 and the 30 – a large, for Europe, 5 door hatchback with a typical Renault longitudinally mounted engine driving the front wheels, of 2.0 or 2.2 4 cylinder or the Peugeot/Renault/Volvo 2.7 litre V6, or a 2.1 litre diesel, which was probably France’s preferred power plant.
The R25 was new in 1983, competing with the Ford Granada, Opel Rekord, Peugeot 505, Volvo 240/260, maybe the Rover 2300 and 2600 (the first one I saw was parked at Triumph’s Canley facility, now long closed, in an area not allocated to visitors or staff) and Japanese imports. Renault were as keen as you’d imagine for it to be seen a BMW 5 series, Audi 100, Mercedes-Benz 230/250/280 (W123) competitor and offered a range of upscale equipment packs to try to do this. Production ran from 1983 to 1992 and there was one significant revision in 1988, with new headlamps and bonnet profile. Styling was by Robert Opron and the interior by Marcello Gandini. So far, pretty unremarkable.
This example is a series 1 Turbo-D, seen in France this summer. The 25 is by no means scarce in France, but now pretty rare in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. There were no body variations for the Renault 25 – it was 5 door hatchbacks only, with the large rear window akin to the Porsche 924 and the Citroen SM, also styled by Robert Opron.
Of course, by 1983, Renault was in partnership with AMC, who needed a large (quite large?) car even more than Renault did. There had been the successful Renault Alliance and Encore ranges in the USA since 1982 and the logic of taking the 25 to create a new larger AMC branded product was pretty sound. As an impartial observer, it looks to me as if the process of turning the 25 into the Eagle Premier took away most of the individuality and a lot of the visual modernity in return for a general square blandness. In turn, these cars led to the Chrysler LH series, after the Chrysler takeover of AMC. All these cars were developed under the leadership of Francois Castaing, first at Renault, then AMC and latterly at Chrysler.
So, in brief, the Renault 25 – an also ran in Europe, though still doing good service in France, and the scion of an American success story. And perhaps the only characterful large French car apart the Citroens.
Sorry Roger no way would I choose this over a Ford Granada,Opel Rekord or 5 series BMW.I’d no idea the Renault 25 became the Eagle,until a few years ago I’d never heard of it.
these cars sank Renault out here nothing but trouble with constant peroblems a good pointer as to why Chrysler NA went belly up
Besides the Eagle Premier, Dodge offered a version from 1990-1992 called Monaco(thereby dragging a storied name(The Monaco of the 1970’s was the famous Bluesmobile) in the mud. Chrysler offered the 25 in both lines so as to quickly finish off the agreement to Renault about having to buy a certain amount of drivetrains from them. Quite possibly the only car out there that made the Dodge Die Nasty seem like it was a Rolls
Ah yes the Dodge Die Nasty, brings back memories. But you are correct the Eagle Premier’s best feature was it’s ability to make several other mediocre cars look good.
A great car, that could compete with german cars in its premium versions.
It was “la voiture qui parle” (the car that talk), pretty funny now but hype then.
Drove a low-mileage serie 2 2.5 turbo Baccara a few months ago from a friend. Silent, comfy with its leather interior, great sound system for the time, and a good kick when the Turbo awakes at 3500rpm.
Nice addition to our European coverage. Renault (and the rest of the French makers) certainly have had a rough go of it in the large-premium market. It seems to be an utterly losing battle, if it isn’t over already.
Big cars from non-premium makers are a drug on the market now. When Holden shuts down in 2017, that leaves another gone too.
I guess that leaves only Skoda Superb in this sector in Europe now?
It’s a pity as I always liked these sorts of cars.
“Cases of doubt”, when it comes to length: Peugeot 508 and Citroën DS5. Both comfortable and roomy, that’s for sure.
Peugeot 508
Citroën DS5
You’d think Ford and Opel would at least offer the Taurus and a rebadged Chevy Impala or Buick Lacrosse, respectively. Even if they weren’t hot sellers it’d be doable at minimal cost (at least if UK and Ireland are set aside).
Er, the Buick Lacrosse and Chevrolet Impala are both really just reskinned long-wheelbase versions of the Opel Insignia. They’re all derivatives of the same Epsilon II platform.
As for Ford, there’s a reason the Scorpio died without a replacement: Ford is having quite enough trouble selling the (quite decent) Mondeo. My understanding is that at this point, the Mondeo is a tough sell to private buyers with anything but the 1.6 or 2.0 TDCi engines and the bigger gasoline engines are a couple of CO2 brackets higher than desirable for company car buyers.
The problem with offering bigger cars at this point is that the price starts getting to be enough to put you into a BMW 1-Series or Audi A3, which has much better resale value and, with the right engine, fall into a much more attractive CO2 bracket for tax purposes.
Bigger Fords and Opels/Vauxhalls just don’t make a lot of economic sense at this point, not because they’re bad cars but because the market’s priorities are just elsewhere.
Ford decided they couldn’t sell big cars in the Scorpio/Granada class with a Ford badge. These days the Mondeo is as big as the Scorpio was.
I understand the Mondeo is hardly selling in Europe now too.
The market for big sedans in Western Europe is moribund. Who would want one? If you have kids, you get a CUV, or MPV/van. If not, you get a small sporty/premium car: more prestige and fun. The big sedan has been dying for decades there, and I’m beginning to wonder if it will come to be here too. The incentives are high for the Camcord class; there’s probably too much capacity now, with VW’s new plant on line. It’s an increasingly obsolete vehicle, in terms of what folks want, except for the gray/white hair set.
You know somewhere else it is happening too…
The Mondeo does come as a hatch and wagon too though, and both of those are practical. Taller format vehicles do provide more space-efficiency in Europe and I’m sure parking is an issue too.
Another factor is the current economic situation, people are looking very carefully at how they spend their money and a large vehicle is an unnecessary cost.
Unless it says Audi, BMW or Mercedes the sedan (regardless its size) is dead here. Very dead. Private buyers go for small or compact hatchbacks, compact MPVs and compact CUVs.
My brother and his wife recently bought a new Renault Captur. A new model that sells like hot cakes. It’s a compact CUV, based on the Clio.
It’s reasonably priced, roomy, practical (5 doors) and fuel efficient. All the things that private buyers, at least most of them, want.
What for GM and Ford both offer better cars already.
I completely disagree – I loved the squared-off looks of the Eagle Premier – and I was in high school at the time.
I would LOVE to find one in good shape now.
I go to a lot of shows and have never seen an Eagle,was it another Edsel style sales flop?
Not exactly, but it wasn’t a big success either. Essentially, Eagle began like GM’s Geo brand: a catchall for an oddball mix of captive imports (the Eagle versions of the R21 and R25 and a couple of Mitsubishis), later supplemented by a version of the big LH platform. Chrysler tried unsuccessfully to pitch Eagle as their “import fighter” brand, à la Saturn, but it really didn’t take and they pulled the plug in 1998.
What distinguishes from the Edsel was that Chrysler didn’t really have a whole lot invested in the Eagle brand. They did co-develop the “Diamond Star Motors” Mitsubishi Eclipse/Eagle Talon/Plymouth Laser, which used a lot of off-the-shelf Mitsubishi hardware and was usually the best-seller of the bunch, but everything else was either inherited or also sold in other forms. Think “seventies Morris” and you get the idea.
The main reason you don’t see them at shows is that the only one that’s likely to have any significant collector appeal is the Talon. You might see one or two of those at some Japanese-specific event, although the Diamond Star cars have suffered a lot of attrition (imagine an Escort RS Cosworth for barely half the price and you can guess what happened to them) and I don’t think they’ve quite crossed the line from “clapped-out old banger” to “budding collector’s darling” just yet.
Thanks for that
Its Renault based, Need you ask.
I remember having a brief motorway drive of a nearly new Renault 30 that a cousin had picked-up very cheap. It probably still had a bit more depreciating to do. Most buyers who liked the look of the Renault 25 would have realised that if they bought one new, they would struggle to get a decent price when they wanted to sell it.
Guess the problem with large French cars is that the French often want to serve the Opel Rekord, Volvo and Ford Granada market and in the same time trie to eat a slice of the BMW and Mercedes cake too.
These cars were somehow always stuck in the middle, selling more in the lower range as they would sell inthe higher range.
The 25 was the last successfull large French car.
Although Citroën had the guts to launch the C6, due to a changed world where lease companies decide what you drive, the C6 died a silent death.
And the dahsboard of the C6 is a mess, especially the integrated radio controls, a 1001 buttons.
But driving one, makes you feel you are on a flying carpet and the appearance of the C6 is impresive, to say the least.
More an S class Mercedes or 7 series BMW for Citroën money.
Said it before, there is less and less room for individual transport, Lancia, Alfa, big French cars.
Renault did reasonably well in Australia with the 2000-era second generation Laguna, they seemed like a good car
I love French cars and have owned several from the major companies. In university I had a 1980 Renault 30TS automatic, silver with blue leather, electric sunroof, central locking, power windows (front only) but no a/c. I sold it in 1992 with 200,000kms on it and the lady who bought it from me drove it for another year or so before I lost track of it.
They were sold new in Canada from 1977 to 1980 but I think they sold well only in Quebec. I met the owner of the Renault dealer in Calgary and he told me they sold 54 over those four years. New, my car sold for about $15,000 and I bought it about 1985 for $3,000 in very nice shape and 80,000kms on the odo.
Despite university student level of servicing, the car served me well but was a bit of a gas guzzler returning about 18mpg or so in the city and mid to upper 20’s on the highway. Once did an indicated 180kph on a deserted stretch of two lane so it went okay. Best features were those typical of French cars of the era – remarkably comfortable seats and an exquisite ride over any broken, lumpy or otherwise uneven surface. Very usable hatchback with a rear seat cushion that folded forward in the normal fashion, however the rear seat back swung up and hung from the roof by means of hooks on the rear grab handles.
I don’t have any pictures of the car (I owned a blue then silver example) but it looked like the one in the ad above except Canadian examples had impact bumpers and side marker lamps the Euro versions didn’t have.
I’ve always had a strange fascination with the Eagle Premier. The Giugiaro body, though heavily influenced by the Audi 100 C3, still looks neat and tidy. These cars had an abundance of room inside and delivered a good ride and handling balance. Unfortunately they could hardly be called a success story. Here in the US sales tanked after the first two years, and these cars had notoriously short service lives due to dodgy electrics and the notorious ZF automatic. Good luck getting 100,000 miles out of one without a rebuild. I can’t remember the last time I saw one.
Part of the problem was that Chrysler really only wanted Jeep as part of the AMC takeover, they didn’t want (or need) the rebadged Renault’s that came with the package. The Renault 21 (nee Medallion) being another victim of this abandonment. So Chrysler didn’t want the Premier, had no desire to market it effectively. They didn’t even know how pitch it. It was marketed as a sophisticated mid-sizer, a competitor to the Taurus, but it really should have been positioned as competitor to demi-luxe brands, a Franco-American Acura Legend if you will.
In addition to lack of proper marketing, Chrysler had no desire to fix the numerous problems from which these cars were afflicted. Dealers hated servicing them, and as soon as warranties expired, parts evaporated, yet another reason for these cars being so rare. To be perfectly fair to Chrysler, they did go through the trouble of replacing all the Renix electrics with Chrysler-sourced parts before the ’91 roll-out, which helped somewhat with reliability, but by then the damage was done, and production had slowed to a trickle.
That said, these cars were superbly engineered vehicles, and their legacy lived on through the Chrysler LH cars, and to this very day with the LX range.
Paul, it’s high time we saw a write-up on the Eagle Premier!
Aaah, the Renault 25. The best French car of the 80s in my opinion. Comfy, big, practical with their cavernous trunk. And look at that spaceship-like dashboard! The 2,1 diesel powerplant was feeble by US standards (67 hp in 1984…) and the turbo just added 20 hp to it, but man were those engines bulletproof. Multiple accounts of them going over 300,000 miles (500,000 kms) with very minor maintenance. And 40+ mpg to boot. I’d love to find a used one, but they have two diseases: funky electronics and rust.