The Toronado was a two-door coupe produced by the Oldsmobile division of General Motors from 1966 to 1992. The name "Toronado" has no meaning, and was originally invented for a 1963 Chevrolet show car. Conceived as Oldsmobile's full-size personal luxury car and competing directly with the Ford Thunderbird and Buick Riviera, the Toronado is historically significant as the first front-wheel drive automobile produced in the United States since the demise of the Cord in 1937.

The original Toronado began as a design painting by Oldsmobile stylist David North in 1962. His design, dubbed the "Flame Red Car," was for a compact sports/personal car, and never intended for production. A few weeks after the design was finished, however, Oldsmobile division was informed that it would be permitted to build a personal car in the Riviera/Thunderbird class for the 1966 model year, and North's design was selected.

Although the Toronado and Trofeo were, by this time, as good as GM's designers and engineers could make them, buyers were not buying. The fuel economy was bad; the SUV craze was in its infancy; and coupes were simply no longer the "in" thing to own. Oldsmobile management realized this, and decided to cancel the Toronado and Trofeo at the end of the 1992 model year. They were replaced in the lineup by the Aurora which debuted in early 1994 as a 1995 model.