Richard A. Teague - Teague Designs

Teague Designs

Teague was responsible for the design of several AMC and Jeep vehicles. He developed the Gremlin, Pacer, Matador coupe, Rambler American, AMC Javelin, and AMX Hornet, and subsequently adapted AMC's compact platform for the Concord, Spirit and Eagle models. He was also responsible for a number of concept cars and lobbied for the production of several, including the compact Tarpon that ultimately led to the large Marlin. He also lobbied for continuing the two-seat AMX models after 1970.

The 1968 AMX GT was one of the Teague-designed concept cars which had some of their design elements incorporated into production models. For this short-wheelbase coupe he styled a truncated kammback tail which was then used on the 1970 Gremlin. He also designed the "Concept 80" series of show cars, built on variations of existing AMC platforms as ideas for possible future models.

Teague was responsible for the Jeep Cherokee (XJ) that was launched in the United States in 1983. He described the practical and utilitarian appearance of the new SUV: "We didn't want to lose the flavor of the older Jeeps ... We wanted it to look like something you'd want to take into the rough country."The design was unchanged and remained in production through 2001 and in China to 2005. The Cherokee XJ was described by one automotive magazine in 2009 as "possibly the best SUV shape of all time", and was the last Teague design to go into production.

Starting in 1982, Teague worked on the first large cars sold by AMC since 1978, the front-drive sedan code named X-58, for introduction in late-1986. and a companion code named X-59, that was to debut for the 1988 model year. He achieved a roomy interior in an aerodynamic design, and the two-door model was to have featured hidden headlamps, but the coupe was never produced. Giorgetto Giugiaro penned the sharper-edged exterior design for the four-door sedan that went into production as the Eagle Premier.