Chapter Nine Conclusions
At the time production got underway after
the Second World War there were six companies making front wheel drive
cars. By 1970 there were eighteen. Of the 1950 manufacturers, Panhard
had been taken over by Citroen and car production discontinued. In East
Germany IFA had been replaced by Wartburg, who made an updated version
of the DKW F9 design, which remained in production until 1988, finally
with a Volkswagen Polo engine after that company had acquired the factory.
The other East German front wheel drive car was the Trabant. The Trabant
was the successor to the IFA F8 and evolved from that design. It too finished
up with a Polo engine replacing the two-stoke twin cylinder unit in the
last model the P601. That was towards the end of production, which was
in 1990.
The reformed DKW company in West Germany,
had been renamed Audi, and had joined Volkswagen and NSU in a group. SAAB
was continuing to grow, but Hotchkiss had gone out of business.
Of those that had joined the ranks of front
wheel drive car makers BMC makers of the Mini and the 1100 and many others,
continue to make front wheel drive cars under the name of MG Rover in the
factory at Longbridge Birmingham were the original Mini was produced.
After a lapse of ten year, Ford Europe returned
to the ranks of front wheel drive car manufacturers in 1976 with the Fiesta
made in a new factory in Spain. The name NSU disappeared with the demise
of the Ro80. Lancia became part of the Fiat empire and continue to make
front wheel drive cars based on Fiat designs as does Autobianchi. The French
manufacturers, Citroen, Renault, Peugeot and Simca until being part of
the Chrysler group, remained completely committed to front wheel drive.
In Japan, Subaru continued to make front
wheel drive cars until all wheel drive cars became their speciality. Honda
continued to expand it's model range with front wheel drive cars and Nissan
replaced old rear wheel drive models with new front wheel drive designs.
Volkswagen in Europe phased out its rear
engined models with front wheel drive cars that took their design principles
from Audi, starting with the Passat. The Oldsmobile Tornado was a
design dead end, but remained in production until more conventional front
wheel drive designs appeared in the United States.
What of those manufacturers around the world
that hadn't produced front wheel drive cars before 1970? A new manufacturer
Zuastava in Yugoslavia began producing front wheel drive cars derived from
Fiat designs in 1971 and Alfa Romero began production of the Alfasud in
a new factory in southern Italy in 1972. In Japan Deihatsu produced their
first front wheel drive car in 1977 and Mitsubishi in 1978. Also in 1978
in the United States, Chrysler introduced the Dodge Omni and the Plymouth
Horizon, both versions of the Chrysler-France Horizon. General Motors German
branch Opel introduced the Kadett in 1979 and Mazda first produced a front
wheel drive car in 1980.
The trend towards front wheel drive continued
with more manufacturers adding cars to their model ranges. In the USA Chevrolet
introduced the Citation and Ford the Escort that was based on a Ford Europe
design in 1981. Also that year Suzuki produced their first front wheel
drive car. Seat in Spain introduced the Marbella which was a Fiat Panda
clone in 1982. Toyota produced their first front wheel drive car in 1983
and Hyundai, Volvo, Lada, Proton and Skoda followed in the next five years.
Cars have been manufactured in the town
of Mlada Boleslav in the region of Bohemia in Czech Republic for almost
a hundred years. They have been made under the name of Skoda for almost
eighty of those years.
Skoda engineers experimented with a small
front wheel drive car as well as other layouts before settling on a rear
engine configuration for the 1000MB. They didn't get another chance to
produce a front wheel drive car until they started work on what was to
become the Favorit. The Favorit was the last Skoda designed and introduced
in the Communist era. After many frustrating years Skoda had to assemble
a design team to produce an up to date car in a very limited time. The
team led by Jaroslav Kindl rose to the occasion. The Favorit's specification
followed the by now universal transverse layout with an all alloy, over
head valve four cylinder 1289cc engine, McPherson strut from suspension,
with trailing arm and torsion bar independent rear suspension. It was clothed
in a body designed by Bertone, giving it a touch of Italian style. On sale
in 1987, a million Favorit's had been produced by 1994.
The Felicia introduced in 1994, was the
first model to be produced after Skoda joined the Volkswagen Group. It
used the same engine as the Favorit.
Even the most determined proponents of the
old order have had to produce front wheel drive models to extend their
model range. Mercedes-Benz introduced the "A" series in 1999. BMW had become
manufacturers of front wheel drive cars by default with their brief ownership
of MG Rover. They now produce the new Mini since giving up ownership of
MG Rover and 43 years after the original Mini design that did so much to
promote front wheel drive cars.
That has left a small minority of manufacturers
without at least one front wheel drive model. These are mainly prestige
or sporting carmakers with a limited ranged of models.
It is shown in the proceeding chapters that
there are many different front wheel drive configurations, each with it's
advantages and disadvantages. Those that have the engine within the
wheelbase have fallen out of favour as the advantages of compactness and
forward weight distribution become apparent.
The fore and aft configuration is
the only one to use if a horizontal-opposed engine is used, but they have
been little used since the 1980's. The use of a long inline engine also
requires an fore and aft configuration, as the engine/gearbox package would
not fit into the space available. The inline four-cylinder engine predominately
used in the last twenty years has proved to be very suitable for transverse
installation as has small Vee six's.
Various versions of the Rzappa joint are
universally used, both at the outer end of the drive shaft, and at the
inner end as pot joints, taking up the variations in shaft length as well
as the angular variations. The development in front wheel drive transmissions
have been utilised in rear wheel and all wheel drive transmissions, transforming
drive train technology to a state of sophistication unimaginable forty
years ago.
What of the future, as the development of
front wheel drive has helped all wheel drive to become commonplace will
all wheel drive continue its spread to all cars as the technology evolves.
Only time will tell.