had scrapped the Talbot marque on passenger cars due to falling sales – though retaining it for commercial vehicles until 1992. The car designed to succeed the Horizon became Peugeot 309 on its launch at the end of 1985, and in 1983, Peugeot sold its share in Matra together with the Chrysler-initiated design of an MPV to Renault, where the design lived on as Renault Espace. Production of the Samba and Alpine/Solara finished in May 1986, while the Horizon remained in production in Spain and Finland until 1987; French and British production had finished during 1985 when the Peugeot 309 went into production. American versions of this car were produced until 1990. Peugeot took little interest in heavy commercial vehicles and the production of former British and Spanish Dodge models passed to Renault Trucks. The Rootes factory in Dunstable, England ceased manufacture of trucks, ending with the Renault Midliner in the mid-1990s. In 2009 the staff of Renault Trucks (RVI), part of the Volvo Group since 2001, relocated from the former Rootes site to a new building. The former factory has since been demolished. Chrysler, on the other hand, retained the design rights to the Avenger and those of the US-version Horizon. Peugeot was therefore compelled to retain the Chrysler "Pentastar" badge on the Avenger, whilst allowing Chrysler to sell the design along with its entire operations in Argentina to Volkswagen which continued production until 1991 under the Volkswagen 1500 name. Meanwhile, European sales of the Avenger ended in 1981. The American version of the Horizon continued to be produced in the United States as the Plymouth Horizon and Dodge Omni until 1990, three years after the last European model was made. The former Simca and Rootes assembly plants in Poissy and Ryton-on-Dunsmore, respectively, continued under the ownership of Peugeot, but Rootes' Linwood plant in Scotland was a casualty of the takeover – closing its doors in 1981. The former Rootes Ryton plant was closed in December 2006, with the production of the Peugeot 206 (made there since the summer of 1998) moved to Slovakia. Since 1985, it had also produced Peugeot's 309, 405 and 306 ranges. It has since been demolished to make way for new factories. The former Rootes research and development site in Whitley was sold to Jaguar in 1986, and continues as the headquarters of Jaguar Land Rover to the present day. The former Simca site