Dodge Omni: Chrysler’s first front-wheel-drive American car

The Dodge Omni, also sold as the Plymouth Horizon, is a subcompact car that Chrysler built from the 1978 to 1990 model years. The two were Chrysler’s first front-wheel-drive cars and the first American cars sold with front-wheel drive and a transverse-mounted four-cylinder engine.

Dodge Omni at a glance

Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Dodge Omni.

History of the Dodge Omni

The Omni and Horizon were the central models of the Chrysler L platform, an evolution of the Chrysler Horizon designed by Chrysler Europe and heavily inspired by the Volkswagen Rabbit. They were sold only as five-door hatchbacks. In the 1980s the same L-platform architecture also supported three-door coupes and a two-door pickup. The cars helped Chrysler escape its dire financial situation, but their discontinuation was forced by advances in front collision requirements.

The background was a long search for an American small car. In the early 1970s Chrysler repeatedly announced its own domestic small car, Project R-429, only to delay it, while it bought a 77 per cent stake in Simca and took control of Rootes and sold their models through a Simca-Rootes division. Those efforts were disappointing, and the Hillman Avenger was imported as the Plymouth Cricket for 1971-1973 with little success, while the Mitsubishi Colt was sold by Dodge dealers as a stop-gap. In 1974 Chrysler sent a management team to Europe to find a suitable small-car design, rejecting a front-wheel-drive compact that became the Chrysler Alpine. At the end of 1974 Chrysler Europe approved a shorter-wheelbase subcompact called C2 to replace the Simca 1100 and Hillman Avenger.

Development of the Omni and Horizon began in 1975. After Lynn Townsend retired, Chrysler management decided to build an American version of the C2 in tandem with Chrysler Europe. One American team wanted a coupe body, but the five-door hatchback was kept because it matched the European-style packaging of the Volkswagen Golf. Chrysler Europe split design and engineering between France, for chassis, powertrain and manufacturing, and the United Kingdom, for body design, and American designers adapted the C2 to local standards; it was the first project in which CAD drawings were transferred electronically by satellite. Chrysler Europe was sold to PSA Peugeot Citroën in August 1978, and the rebranded Talbot Horizon continued in Europe almost unchanged until 1987.

From 1977 to 1987 Chrysler built the Omni and Horizon at Belvidere, Illinois. Production then moved to the AMC plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and finally to Jefferson Avenue in Detroit in 1989; the Omni and Horizon were the last model lines built at the latter two plants. About 2.5 million cars were made in total, and the Plymouth Horizon is the last Plymouth model to outsell its Dodge counterpart. The Omni and Horizon were overshadowed by the K-cars and saw few changes over eleven years. Chrysler introduced the Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance hatchback sedans for 1987 to replace the line, and the Neon replaced both generations from 1993.

Design and features

• First of its kind: the first American front-wheel-drive car with a transverse four-cylinder engine.
• L platform: the base for the Omni 024 coupe and the Rampage pickup.
• European roots: developed from the Chrysler Europe Horizon project.
• Long run with few changes: eleven years of production and about 2.5 million cars.

Dodge Omni versions

• Omni five-door (1978-1990): the only body style of the main line.
• Omni 024: the three-door coupe built on the same platform.
• Plymouth Horizon: the twin model, which outsold the Omni.

The Omni replaced Chrysler’s imported small cars such as the Dodge Colt in spirit and was replaced by the Dodge Shadow and then the Dodge Neon. More Dodge models are in the Dodge collection.

Sources

• Dodge Omni, English Wikipedia: development, platform, production, replacement