Transversely-mounted engine

A transverse engine is an engine mounted in a vehicle so that the engine's crankshaft axis is perpendicular to the long axis of the vehicle. Many modern front wheel drive vehicles use this engine mounting configuration. (Most rear wheel drive vehicles use a longitudinal engine configuration, where the engine's crankshaft axis is parallel to the long axis of the vehicle, except for some rear-mid engine vehicles, which use a transverse engine and transaxle mounted in the rear instead of the front.)

The Critchley light car, made by the Daimler Motor Company in 1899, had a transverse engine with belt drive to the rear axle. A 1911 front-wheel drive car had a transverse engine with a clutch at each end, driving the front wheels directly.

The first successful transverse-engine cars were the two-cylinder DKW "Front" series of cars, which first appeared in 1931. After the Second World War, SAAB used the configuration in their first model, the Saab 92, in 1947. The arrangement was also used for Borgward's Goliath and Hansa brand cars and in a few other German cars. However, it was with Alec Issigonis's Mini, introduced by the British Motor Corporation in 1959, that the design gained acclaim. Issigonis incorporated the car's gearbox into the engine's sump, producing a drivetrain unit narrow enough to install transversely in a car only four feet (1.2 metres) wide. While previous DKW and Saab cars used small two-stroke air-cooled engines with poor refinement and performance the gearbox-in-sump arrangement meant that an 848cc four-cylinder water-cooled engine could be fitted to the Mini, providing strong performance for a car of its size. Coupled to the much greater interior space afforded by the layout (the entire drivetrain only took up 20 per cent of the car's length) this made the Mini a genuine alternative to the conventional small family car.

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Wikipedia