The Citroën Traction Avant is the world's first monocoque-bodied, front-wheel drive, mass-production car. A range of mostly 4-door saloons and executive cars, as well as longer wheelbased "Commerciale", and three row seating "Familiale" models, were produced with four- and six-cylinder engines, by French carmaker Citroën from 1934 to 1957. With some 760,000 units built, the Traction Avants were the first front-wheel drives made in such (six-figure) quantity.
Citroën Traction Avant
Traction Avant monocoque
Front torsion bar suspension
Dashboard of TA Commerciale from 1954
Front-wheel drive (FWD) is a form of engine and transmission layout used in motor vehicles, in which the engine drives the front wheels only. Most modern front-wheel-drive vehicles feature a transverse engine, rather than the conventional longitudinal engine arrangement generally found in rear-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive vehicles.
The historic 1934 Citroën Traction Avant. Its model name literally means front-wheel-drive, one of the car's break-through innovations.
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