Anselmo Motors Entente/Guminator1A Version

The Stanley Trek, and its badge-engineered AMW Entente counterpart, are mid-size SUVs manufactured by Anselmo Motor Works since 1992 and 1989, respectively. The Entente and Trek were originally part of a partnership between AMW and Chrysler in the 1980s, which saw an exchange of passenger vehicles from AMW to Chrysler and its subsidiaries, such as the AMW Legend and Legion, and from Chrysler to AMW, with vehicles such as the Chrysler Town & Country and Dodge Caravan. This arrangement was convenient for AMW as the company wanted to cut down on development costs for newer vehicles. AMW first rebadged the Dodge Ramcharger SUV as the "Trek" in 1985, however it wasn't until 1989 when AMW debuted the mid-size Entente.
The AMW Entente has been offered in multiple chassis and powertrain layouts. The first generation was directly derived from the Dodge Ram, whereas the second used a chassis architecture based on the one used in the European market AMW Fury and finally a model-specific chassis for the third generation.
From the second generation onward, the AMW Entente is sold as a left-hand drive vehicle in North America, select regions of Europe, including France, Ireland, Britain, and Belgium, as well as some regions of Asia, including the Philippines and the Middle East. It is also offered as a right- or left-hand drive vehicle in Europe, with the right-hand drive (RHD) configuration being more common; the left-hand drive version is a fleet only vehicle and therefore marketed to a large number of fleet owners who preferred the driver to be positioned on the side of the vehicle closest to the curb rather than away from it. The Stanley Trek is only sold in North and South America, Southern Europe, Ireland, Poland, and the Middle East.
==Controversy==
The AMW Entente has been proven to be a fairly controversial model; however, in comparison to the more respected first and fourth generations, the second and third generations endured the highest amount of controversy. This was particularly true given that the second generation model is imported and that the third suffered from issues in weight distribution much like the first generation Ford Explorer. 
===Tariff circumvention===
Unlike the third generation Entente, the second generation model also proved controversial, albeit for a different reason. 
AMW felt that the US government's decision to impose a 25% tariff on imported light trucks was disingenuous, particularly in light of the implications for domestic automakers that decide to manufacture such vehicles overseas and import them into the country. For this reason, the company wanted to protest the tax, doing so by having the second generation Entente assembled in their Italian plants in Florence and Tuscany. These incomplete SUVs are then imported into the US on Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics cargo ships. And as if that weren't controversial enough, the Entente is imported in a configuration that lacks rear side windows, rear seats (and rear seat belts), therefore it is legally designated as a light truck. 
The incomplete Entente SUVs are then converted at a WWL Vehicle Services Americas Inc. facility. In order to make room for windows, metal panels are cut, and seats are eventually installed in the passenger area. At this point in the assembly process, the Entente is also missing parts of the front clip and a powertrain; therefore, it is sent to Ladson, South Carolina for completion. Apart from that, the vehicle undergoes some minor adjustments while it's there.
The process has been likened to the opposite of what Ford attempted with their Transit Connect vans when importing them to the US. As cargo does not need seats with seat belts or rear windows, lack of those items subjected the vehicle to commercial vehicle status. Without tax, the conversion had already cost AMW hundreds of dollars per vehicle, and the taxation over each vehicle by the government severely affected profits.
Whereas AMW could've assembled the Entente locally, their decision to challenge the tax made them lose almost twice as much for every vehicle sold, which nearly instigated a bankruptcy and therefore an extensive restructuring of the company. AMW ironically solved this by importing the very similar AMW Fury to make money. While losses were further exacerbated by this decision initially, AMW decided to rectify this by adding forward facing jump seats and seatbelts to the cargo area of the Fury to make it a passenger vehicle. After complaints about AMW using the Entente to protest the tax were made known internally, the company went with a different method in 1999 where the Fury and Entente were disassembled partially, shipped to the United States, and reassembled at a plant in Kansas City, Missouri.
Category:Anselmo Motor Works (Guminator1A)