How Castaing helped fuel the SUV craze

Francois Castaing was among the creators of the sport-utility trend that is now sweeping western Europe, and has propelled the North American automotive industry for the past decade. A former technical director for Renault motorsport programs, Castaing moved to Detroit in 1980 to help merge Renault with American Motors Corp. (AMC). At AMC, he championed production of the Jeep Cherokee Limited, which helped transform sport-utilities into mainstream, personal-use vehicles. Castaing carried his belief in Jeep sport-utilities to Chrysler Corp. In 1987, Chrysler, now part of DaimlerChrysler, bought AMC from Renault SA. Castaing discussed the birth of the sport-utility era with Automotive News Europe's Mary Connelly.