As American prosperity increased in the early 1960s, the U.S. automobile market expanded. Whereas American Motors' profitable marketing strategy under George W. Romney had concentrated on compact, economical cars, Romney's successor as CEO, Roy Abernethy, sought to compete with the "Big Three" automobile manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) by expanding AMC's model lines into additional market segments; particularly by developing a sporty, roomy, 6-passenger sedan that would occupy a unique niche in the market. The idea was that the new car would be a distinctive, low-volume model symbolizing a new Rambler look and spearheading a full product line. To be a distinctive competitor in the big league with the Big Three, it was decided that it should be flashy and intermediate-sized, and in an era when other automakers were stressing the power of muscle cars for their intermediate-sized image vehicles, the new model—the Marlin—was to feature comfort and spaciousness.