The General Motors second generation, front-wheel drive X-platform was used for compact cars from 1979 to 1985. After front-wheel drive cars had become somewhat mainstream in the North American market, first through foreign imports, and then by American badged but wholly or partially foreign developed cars – for instance the Ford Fiesta and Dodge Omni – GM's 2nd gen X-bodies were the first all-American developed front-wheel drive cars introduced for high-volume, mainstream sales, and initially saw great sales success. They posed an alternative to imported front-wheel drive compacts.