Dodge Omni 024

The Dodge Omni 024 was a modified version of the popular Dodge Omni made from 1979 to 1982. Analogous to the VW Scirocco, this car was a lower, sportier 3-door hatchback version of the Chrysler/Simca Horizon, using the four-door hatchback's floor pan and chassis as a basis. The cars were designed in-house at the prompting of Lee Iacocca.

It used the same chassis and engine options as the Omni but had a unique 3-door hatchback body and front end styling. The base engine was a 1.7 L Volkswagen inline four producing , with a 2.2 L, 84 hp (63 kW) Chrysler inline four as an option beginning in 1981. By then, the smaller engine only produced 63 hp (47 kW). For the first year, the wheels were painted in the exterior color, and had a folding back seat. The car's looks promised more performance than the engine could deliver, and the car was not as practical as the Omni. Both the Omni and Horizon prefixes were dropped for 1981, making them the "024" and "TC3", respectively.

The 024 did not sell well and was renamed as the Dodge Charger for the 1983 model year, a name which had been gradually introduced as part of a special "Charger 2.2" package beginning in 1981. The 024 had a twin called the Plymouth Horizon TC3. (The name "TC3" may have referred to the car being a Touring Coupe with 3 doors.) It, too, was renamed in the 1983 model year: to the Plymouth Turismo. The "Turismo" label had already been used on a sport package beginning in 1980.

Dodge Omni

The Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were subcompact cars produced by Chrysler from December 1977 to 1990. The Omni and Horizon were badge engineered variants of the Simca Horizon, and were the first of many front-wheel drive Chrysler products to follow, including the Dodge Aries/Plymouth Reliant and the Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager/Chrysler Town and Country.

History

The Dodge Omni and the Plymouth Horizon were front-wheel drive, five-door hatchbacks, introduced by the Dodge and Plymouth divisions of Chrysler in North America in 1977 (for the 1978 model year). The Omni and Horizon were the first front-wheel drive cars produced by Chrysler, and among the first American 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.)

The Omni and Horizon were loosely based on the Horizon, a subcompact car designed by Simca, the French division of Chrysler Europe, and built on the then-new L platform. It survived, in various guises, in Europe until 1987.