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Citroën Traction Avant
The Citroën Traction Avant (French pronunciation: [tʁaksjɔnaˈvɑ̃]) is the world's first mass-produced, semi-monocoque bodied, front-wheel drive car.[citation needed] A range of mostly four-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.
Whilst front-wheel drive and four-wheel independent suspension had been established in production cars by Auto Union,[citation needed] and subsequently by others a few years prior – the Traction Avant pioneered integrating these into a mass-production car with a crash resistant, largely unitary, monocoque body. Additionally, the car was also an early adopter of rack and pinion steering.
Although the car's name ("Traction Avant" literally means "front traction") emphasized its front-wheel drive power delivery, the car stood out at least as much by its much lower profile and stance – made possible by the absence of a separate vehicle frame or chassis under the car's mostly unitary body – sharply distinguishing it visually from its taller contemporaries.
The Traction Avant, French for front-wheel drive, was designed by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni in late 1933 / early 1934.
The Traction Avant was a recent entrant into the growing European front-wheel drive market, competing with the well established DKW F2 and Adler Trumpf models and joining other entrants at around the same time such as the BSA Scout. Front-wheel drive had appeared in the previous decade through luxury vehicle manufacturers Alvis, which built the 1928 Racing FWD in the UK, and Cord, which produced the L29 from 1929 to 1932 in the United States. Ultimately, the inline engine, front wheel drive layout of cars like the Citroën Avant was to be a dead end. Virtually all modern mass-produced front wheel drive cars use the compact transverse engine layout, as pioneered by DKW F1 from 1931 with a small two cylinder two stroke engine.
The Traction Avant's structure was a welded unitary body / chassis. Most other cars of the era were based on a separate frame (chassis) onto which the non-structural body ("coachwork") was built. Unitary construction (also called Unit Body or "Unibody" in the US) results in a lighter vehicle. It is now used for virtually all car construction.
This unitary body saved 70 kg (150 lb) in steel per car. It was mass-produced, using innovative technology purchased from the American firm Budd Company. Weight reduction was a motivation for Citroën that American manufacturers of that time did not have.
This method of construction was viewed with great suspicion in many quarters, with doubts about its strength. A type of crash test was conceived, taking the form of driving the car off a cliff, to illustrate its great inherent resilience.
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Citroën Traction Avant
The Citroën Traction Avant (French pronunciation: [tʁaksjɔnaˈvɑ̃]) is the world's first mass-produced, semi-monocoque bodied, front-wheel drive car.[citation needed] A range of mostly four-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.
Whilst front-wheel drive and four-wheel independent suspension had been established in production cars by Auto Union,[citation needed] and subsequently by others a few years prior – the Traction Avant pioneered integrating these into a mass-production car with a crash resistant, largely unitary, monocoque body. Additionally, the car was also an early adopter of rack and pinion steering.
Although the car's name ("Traction Avant" literally means "front traction") emphasized its front-wheel drive power delivery, the car stood out at least as much by its much lower profile and stance – made possible by the absence of a separate vehicle frame or chassis under the car's mostly unitary body – sharply distinguishing it visually from its taller contemporaries.
The Traction Avant, French for front-wheel drive, was designed by André Lefèbvre and Flaminio Bertoni in late 1933 / early 1934.
The Traction Avant was a recent entrant into the growing European front-wheel drive market, competing with the well established DKW F2 and Adler Trumpf models and joining other entrants at around the same time such as the BSA Scout. Front-wheel drive had appeared in the previous decade through luxury vehicle manufacturers Alvis, which built the 1928 Racing FWD in the UK, and Cord, which produced the L29 from 1929 to 1932 in the United States. Ultimately, the inline engine, front wheel drive layout of cars like the Citroën Avant was to be a dead end. Virtually all modern mass-produced front wheel drive cars use the compact transverse engine layout, as pioneered by DKW F1 from 1931 with a small two cylinder two stroke engine.
The Traction Avant's structure was a welded unitary body / chassis. Most other cars of the era were based on a separate frame (chassis) onto which the non-structural body ("coachwork") was built. Unitary construction (also called Unit Body or "Unibody" in the US) results in a lighter vehicle. It is now used for virtually all car construction.
This unitary body saved 70 kg (150 lb) in steel per car. It was mass-produced, using innovative technology purchased from the American firm Budd Company. Weight reduction was a motivation for Citroën that American manufacturers of that time did not have.
This method of construction was viewed with great suspicion in many quarters, with doubts about its strength. A type of crash test was conceived, taking the form of driving the car off a cliff, to illustrate its great inherent resilience.