By the 1962 model year, the Ambassador's chassis was in its fifth season on the market. While Rambler sales had been good enough for third place in industry sales (behind Chevrolet and Ford), AMC's management was working on a revolutionary and somewhat costly design set to debut for the 1963 model year. In the meantime, American Motors needed to save money, and since the Ambassador's sales had fallen in 1961, it was decided that the car would be downsized for 1962 to directly share the body, windshield, and wheelbase with the Classic platform. Accordingly, the car was marketed as a Rambler Ambassador.