General Motors introduced the Oldsmobile Toronado in 1966 as the first mass-produced front-wheel-drive American car.
The Toronado was produced by GM’s Oldsmobile division. Its front-wheel-drive layout used a compact transaxle connected to a V8 engine, allowing the car to have a long hood and a relatively spacious passenger compartment without a conventional driveshaft tunnel.
The model was visually distinctive and won the 1966 Motor Trend Car of the Year award. Its engineering was unusual for a large American car at a time when rear-wheel drive dominated the domestic market.
The Toronado is sometimes described as the first front-wheel-drive car in the United States, but that wording is too broad. Earlier front-wheel-drive cars existed, including the Cord 810; the Toronado’s distinction was mass production in the modern postwar American market.