Generally, carmakers design their mass-market automobile platforms as front-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive, or, if they're feeling fancy, with all-wheel drive as an option to either architecture. Generally, carmakers do not design platforms to accommodate all three driveline configurations, but that appears to be just what Chrysler's engineering teams did when developing the "cab-forward" LH platform of the 1990s and early 2000s.

When Chrysler bought AMC in 1987, it appeared from the outside that neither had spent much time developing their car lineups. AMC had the Eagle and Alliance and a few Renaults in its showrooms to accompany the Jeeps, while Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth dealerships had a bunch of K-car derivatives to sell alongside the minivans. But the relationship that the former had with Renault was about to bear fruit in the form of the Renault-funded but AMC-designed and -engineered Premier. Developing the multi-drive platform proved harder than expected.