Introduced in late spring of 1990, the new front-drive Impulse replaced Isuzu's previous rear-drive model of the same name. The sporty 2+2 hatchback shared its front-drive chassis, and one of its engines, with the subcompact Isuzu Stylus sedan. At this time, Isuzu was partly owned by General Motors. A similar sport coupe, called the Geo Storm, went to Chevrolet dealers. A driver's airbag was standard on both the base XS and the high-performance RS coupe. Standard equipment in the XS includes a sport suspension tuned by Lotus (the British sports-car maker, also owned by GM), 4-wheel disc brakes, power steering, and 185/60HR14. The 1.6-liter, dual-overhead-cam XS four-cylinder engine produced 125 horsepower and came with either a 5-speed manual or 4 speed automatic transmission. A 160-horsepower turbocharged engine went into the RS coupe, which had permanently engaged 4-wheel drive instead of front drive. The RS came only with 5-speed manual shift.