What happened to Eagle Talon production?

[TSi999]

The car was a hit in the early 90's for the small amount of Jeep/Eagle dealers compared to say Chevrolet who sold 110,000 94 Camaros. In 95 Eagle Talon production totaled 25,066. By 96 Talon production totaled 15,100. 1997 production was 9,788.

What happened? Was it lack of support/advertising by Chrysler? Eagle had the factory Archer Brothers road racing team winning Championships.

What do you feel it was? Rise of the mid size SUV? Failure for them to keep up in power to the Camaro/Trans Am and other high end sports cars?

I remember looking at a dealer for one in 97 but they didn't have any turbo models.

Source, Allpar.com click me

[Blackcrow64]

I think the Eclipse name was more so advertised and the Talon was left in the dust... A lot of people say to me "whats a talon?" and I simply reply the same thing as an Eclipse and they instantly know... So I vote lack of advertising and the Eagle name was never that popular anyways... I bet the numbers were high in 95 due to the fact that the Eclipse was overpriced compared to the Talon.

[david-b]

I get that a lot too. What's a Talon? Eagle? You tell them its an Eclipse and they know then, but will sometimes put up a fight about it. Saying it's not an Eclipse (bc of the back). Eagle wasn't popular. Look how few Eagles are on the road.

[scottsee]

I like the black color tones of the Eagle.. Deff didn't know what the hell and eagle talon was untill well after I bought the GSX.

[l_eclipse_l]

The Eagle name just didn't catch, so sales dropped off and they finally just said fuck it. Can you think of any other Eagle's besides the Talon off the top of your head? I can't.

[Blackcrow64]

The Vision, Summit, and Premier...




Sorry, had to be a smartass.

[steviek]

I'm glad people don't know what eagle talon is.
People CONSTANTLY either think my car is a 60, 000 dollar rare sports car with an odd name plate yunno something like spyker, or they just assume that whatever the helll it is its really really fast, (which it is

Like when I moved into this house with my buds I pulled up and the landlord wanted to know what version porsche that was to reserve a spot for it.

[Thor06]

I think Eagle as a company just sucked. Look at pretty much all of their models. Just rebadges from something else. I think they died due to the fact that they were so new and they just had uglier models of other cars. I dont mind though, I got my Talon a lot cheaper than I would have if it was an Eclipse, not to mention I like 1ga Talons better.

[AbsoluteGTR]

1gb talons are so much better looking than the 1gb eclipses...But when it comes to he 2g's, I like the Talons, but the Eclipse does look better.

[steviek]

I think the talon is the only car eagle even tried for.

[Black99GST]

i like the 2g talon w/ the eclipse turbo wing... looks like love... and maybe the eclipse front bumper... i dont know... the side skirts on the talon are amasing!

[Mikelb]

Ok, onto the topic question... I'd have to say that at that time the sports-car market was suffering as a whole. The lesser-known Eagle brand wasn't getting much advertising and was beat out by it's Mitsubishi Counterparts. Out of the whole, the cars procuced by DSM that had success were the Mitsubishi brand, and that lead to losses on the other brands, pulling the company into some financial stress.
Out of that factory, also came the 3S platform. DSM lost money on each of the 3s' sold. These cars were way ahead of their time. They were kind of there to build a legacy for the DSM brand, yet weren't technically badged "DSM's"... So not only did the company suffer from losses on this platform, but the lesser known Eagle brand was losing it's momentum. The talon was the only real sportscar that came out of that brand. The laser was also the only real sports-car that Plymouth had rolling out at the time.
It seemed as though Daimler-Chrysler was getting the short-end of the stick on each of the deals. They probably realized this, and as time went forward, cut their funding. In (IIRC) 93(?) Plymouth stopped production of the Laser... Leaving the Eagle and Mitsubishi to continue the run.
In '96 Dodge stopped production on the Stealth, although it's Mitsubishi counterpart continued until '99.

Although technically the company ceased to exist in (IIRC) '93, the factory continued to produce vehicles until '99. The second gens aren't technically DSM's, although they share the same basic principles as the first, and are still considered DSMs... IIRC the 2nd gens even have DSM badging (I am not for certain, but I didn't have DSM badging for my '97 RS)

[Mikelb]

Here's a lil' more info: (taken from http://www.dsmhorsepower.com/sedsmor...hp/t-9944.html)

According to Auto Channel:

Models produced at the plant since 1988

Mitsubishi Eclipse (first produced in 1988 and currently produced)
Plymouth Laser (1988-1994)
Mitsubishi Mirage (1989-1992)
Eagle Talon (1989-1998)
Eagle Summit (1990-1992)
Mitsubishi Galant (first produced in 1993 and currently produced)
Dodge Avenger (1994 -2000)
Chrysler Sebring coupe (first produced in 1994 and currently produced)
Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible (first produced in 1995 and
currently produced)
Dodge Stratus (first produced in 2000 and currently produced)

Montero Sport becomes a DSM with the new for '04 model according to the article as well.

Some additional background:

Background Information on MMMA

-- October 1985, Diamond-Star Motors was incorporated as a joint venture
of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and Chrysler Corporation.
-- April 1986, ground broken for the auto assembly plant in Normal,
Illinois. Construction of the 1.9 million square foot facility, with
an annual production capacity of 240,000 vehicles, was completed in
March 1988.
-- Diamond-Star Motors simultaneously launched its first two mass
production vehicles in September 1988: the Mitsubishi Eclipse and the
Plymouth Laser.
-- In 1989, 90,741 vehicles were produced. A second production shift and
a third shift for engineering and maintenance were added in May 1989.
-- In 1991, MMC purchased Chrysler's 50 percent share and the plant
became a wholly-owned subsidiary of MMC. On July 1, 1995,
Diamond-Star Motors was renamed Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of
America, Inc.
-- In October 1995, MMMA celebrated the one-millionth vehicle -- which
was the first Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible. It was also the
10th anniversary of incorporation.
-- The plant has had three expansions since 1988; the most recent was in
November 2000 when groundbreaking occurred for a 170,000 square foot
expansion to Stamping and Body Shops to accommodate the new sport
utility to be built at MMMA in 2003 (2004 model year). Upon
completion of this expansion, square footage will be 2.5 million.

The article mentions they just passed 2 million vehicles produced early 2003.

[TSi999]

Originally Posted by Mikelb

Here's a lil' more info:.

Great info! Thanks for sharing Mike.

Well my early 95 was labeled a DSM. IIRC all other later years were badged as Mitsubishis.




Ok so Eagle wasn't supported what a huge mistake IMO. At least Mitsubishi was cool enough to not go all out with say a Ralliart Version of the 2g AWD and use that to steal sales from the Talon. I mean they could have easily added an EVO 16G and some special seats and called it a day. I also know Mitsubishi didn't hold back the best stuff like the Limited Slip diffs or anything. I guess the Dodge Avenger is really the new Eagle Talon in spirit. I wonder if that gorgeous coupe was originally an Eagle design that someone put a crosshair grill on.




What a shame Chrysler let Eagle end they could be competitive to this day. I remember reading back in the early 90's there was a hot debate at Chrysler to have the Viper badged an Eagle. That would have really helped get the Division some good press and exposure they could have really used. I remember the 1g being advertised alot with the Jazz themed Talon ads. I don't recall ever seeing a 2g Talon commercial, but then again they spent alot backing the Archer Brothers Talons in roadracing.

That is great how the Normal, IL plant is still running and that is great reaching that kind of production number!

[2of9]

the outcome of not having any of the sporty awd coupes is the Lancer Evolution. Im pretty sure Mitsu had idea's of bringing back the GSX, but with alot of reviews saying "crap interior, poor engine work" ...thats not good things coming to mitsubishi and eagle or chrysler