The AMC Gremlin (also American Motors Gremlin) is a subcompact automobile introduced in 1970, manufactured and marketed in a single, two-door body style (1970–1978) by American Motors Corporation (AMC), as well as in Mexico (1974–1983) by AMC's Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos (VAM) subsidiary.
Using a shortened Hornet platform and bodywork with a pronounced kammback tail, the Gremlin was classified as an economy car and competed with the Chevrolet Vega and Ford Pinto, as well as imported cars including the Volkswagen Beetle and Toyota Corolla. The small domestic automaker marketed the Gremlin as "the first American-built import."
The Gremlin reached a total production of 671,475 over a single generation. It was superseded by a restyled and revised variant, the AMC Spirit produced from 1979 through 1983. This was long after the retirement of the Ford Pinto that suffered from stories about exploding gas tanks, as well as the Chevrolet Vega with its rusting bodies and durability problems with its aluminum engine.
