Very few people know about cars from Citroen of France but their revolutionary 1934 Traction Avant was the first mass production front wheel drive (FWD) car to be successful. So successful, in fact, that it set a trend to make FWD the most popular transmission system in the world. This success was mainly due to the fact that when the engine and gearbox are close together there is less loss of power in the transmission system resulting in lower fuel consumption. The Volkswagen Beetle was however a successful car that did the opposite with a rear engine driving the rear wheels but the system was not as popular as FWD cars. As most cars today are small cars FWD became the system most preferred by them with the result that about 70 per cent of all the cars in the world are front wheel drive.

Another advantage was that the front wheels pulled the car unlike the rear wheel drive that pushed the car so it drove better on wet or icy roads where rear wheel drive cars tended to push a car more and more into a skid. As the front wheels also controlled the steering the driver of a FWD car had better overall control. When there is snow or sleet on European roads very few people will risk driving a car without FWD. Not surprisingly Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde and many American bank robbers liked the Citroen for their ‘getway’ cars that could do the best skid turns.

A compact engine and transmission unit also weighs less than an engine connected to rear wheel differential with a long propeller shaft making the car easier to drive and more fuel efficient. As there was no propeller shaft between the engine and rear wheels it also allowed a flat floor and freed up more space in the passenger compartment. When the front wheel had to however do both the steering and propulsion it made the steering heavier until power steering solved that problem. Even then all the complex mechanicals in the front wheel tended to demand a wider turning circle.

FWD had some other disadvantages as well especially if heavy loads have to be carried because a vehicle can pull better when the weight of the cargo is on top of the traction wheels. This is why all transport vehicles have power delivered to the rear wheels. For similar reasons cars with rear wheel drives do better on steep slopes making it the choice for all true blue SUVs that need power in the rear wheels for pulling them out of really bad terrain of slushy jungle roads.

Though it was not really the pioneer, Citroen’s Traction Avant not only popularised the FWD system but also the monocoque body of a car. All the earlier cars had a large box - like passenger compartment sitting on top of a heavy ladder like chassis.

In contrast, a car with the monocoque body was like squarish tube where the walls of the car, as in an aero plane, would provide the required stiffness reducing the overall weight of the car. In 1959 the British Motor Corporation took another revolutionary step with their very popular Mini by positioning the engine laterally (crosswise) to reduce the space for the engine. This resulted in a small, light, fuel efficient and inexpensive car that immediately made it hugely popular. Paradoxically this ‘poor man’s car’ was later produced by BMW the luxury car maker and is today one of the most expensive, and delightful, small cars in the world. Today lateral engines are found in most small cars.

The author is the region’s most celebrated automobile columnist