Most Dodge and Plymouth vehicles were similar in terms of major features and components. Among the Chrysler vehicles that shared platforms and other parts were the Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon. The two were front wheel drive subcompact cars launched in 1978. Although made by Chrysler, a US-based automobile company, the Doge Omni and its twin model, the Plymouth Horizon had European influence. They strongly resembled the Yugo and the Volkswagen Rabbit.

Dodge Omni was offered in a five-door hatchback body style. It was based on the Chrysler L platform, which was then new to Chrysler’s platform line-up. During the time Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, collectively referred to as the “Omnirizon,” were being introduced, Chrysler was facing great financial difficulty. Chrysler was desperately looking for means to avoid it from its doom. If not for the Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon, which were selling pretty well at that time, the US government would not have thought that Chrysler still had a future worth saving and thus, granted its loan and of course, the company would not have recovered from its losses.

On its first year, the Dodge Omni was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year for 1978, which helped strengthen their standing in the auto market. However, shortly after, Dodge Omni faced controversies. A magazine had drive tested a particular Dodge Omni model and had reported that it easily went out of control in hard maneuvering. At that time, front wheel drives have just started to penetrate the American auto market and thus, such report about the Dodge Omni was offensively taken.

Negative critiques about the Omni were widely spread, putting the Dodge in hot water. Fortunately, many other auto magazines have countered the negative statements saying that the driving conditions used to come up with the drive test results are not close enough to real driving conditions. Eventually, Dodge was able to get through this hard time and Dodge Omni carried on successfully through its last year in 1990.