Dodge Omni

 Front wheel drive cars introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of the Chrysler Corporation in North America in 1978, and were based on a European Simca-based design of the same name.


Engine   
1.6 L Peugeot/Simca I4
1.7 L Volkswagen I4
2.2 L K I4
2.2 L Turbo I I4

The Dodge Omni and the similar Plymouth Horizon were front-wheel drive cars introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of the Chrysler Corporation in North America in 1978. The car came off the line priced at $2,500. It was a three or five-door hatchback. Although the car had substantial European origins (the car was actually developed by Simca, the French division of Chrysler Europe, before that company was sold to Peugeot, which released the car as the Talbot Horizon), it was presented as a very significant domestic development, since it was assembled by Chrysler, who retained North American rights to the car. Both the Omni and the Horizon were based on Chrysler's then-new L platform. The company had avoided building a car for the subcompact market up until that time, preferring to use captive imports like the Dodge Colt instead. The Omni and Horizon were the first front-wheel drive cars in the Dodge and Plymouth lineup, the first front-wheel drive transverse engine production car in the North American market, and among the first American built front-wheel drive cars to sell in large numbers. Previous front-wheel drive American cars such as the Cord 810, Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado were low volume luxury cars.