I don't agree with all of this but, one thing they did right was the 232 6 cylinders motor. That was one of the toughest motor anyone ever built.AMC died in 1987 but at least they tried. They did not have the deep pockets of Big Three nor the craftsmanship excellence, engineering mastery and materials quality of Europe and Japan. Not too mention this Kenosha, Wisconsin car company was saddled with an image of cars that were downright ugly. AMC was the red-headed freckles-face stepchild of the American automobile world. They were the laughing stock of the buisness like the Buffalo Bills, San Diego Chargers and Cleveland Indians were the laughing stock of American sports. AMC was the black sheep of American car companies.
Another famous Wisconsin based American motorized vehicle company, Harley-Davidson, had many long troubled years but are still very much alive today.
Back in 1981, my father told me that American car companies did not know how to build econobox cars and trucks just as Harley doesn't know how to build little mopeds and motorbikes.