automobile design Automotive design is the process of developing the appearance (and to some extent the ergonomics) of motor vehicles - including automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, buses, coaches, and vans. The functional design and development of a modern mot ...

, a rear-engine design layout places the

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

at the rear of the vehicle. The

center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

of the

itself is behind the rear axle. This is not to be confused with the center of gravity of the whole vehicle, as an imbalance of such proportions would make it impossible to keep the front wheels on the ground. Automotive diagrams 05 En

Rear-engined vehicles almost always have a rear-wheel drive car layout, but some are

four wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

. This layout has the following features: *Packaging: since there is no need for a transmission tunnel, the floor can be flat. *Rear traction: having the engine located over the driven wheels increases downward pressure, which is helpful for grip on loose surfaces, although can be prone to oversteer. *Simplicity of manufacture: the engine is near the driven wheels, and the transmission can be merged with the differential to save space. This layout was once popular in small, inexpensive cars and light commercial vehicles. Today most car makers have abandoned the layout although it does continue in some expensive cars, like the

Porsche 911 The Porsche 911 (pronounced ''Nine Eleven'' or in german: Neunelfer) is a two-door 2+2 high performance rear-engined sports car introduced in September 1964 by Porsche AG of Stuttgart, Germany. It has a rear-mounted flat-six engine and ori ...

. It is also used in some racing car applications,

low-floor bus A low-floor bus is a bus or trolleybus that has no steps between the ground and the floor of the bus at one or more entrances, and low floor for part or all of the passenger cabin. A bus with a partial low floor may also be referred to as a low- ...

es, some Type-D

school buses A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter bus or transit bu ...

, and microcars such as the Smart Fortwo. Some

electric car An electric car, battery electric car, or all-electric car is an automobile that is propelled by one or more electric motors, using only energy stored in batteries. Compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, electric cars are quiet ...

s feature both rear and front motors, to drive all four wheels.

Notable rear-engined cars

Benz Patent-Motorwagen The Benz Patent-Motorwagen ("patent motorcar"), built in 1885 by the German Carl Benz, is widely regarded as the world's first practical modern automobile and was the first car put into series production. It was patented and unveiled in 1886. ...

* BMW 600, 700, and i3 * Chevrolet Corvair * Davrian *

DMC DeLorean The DMC DeLorean is a rear-engine two-passenger sports car manufactured and marketed by John DeLorean's DeLorean Motor Company (DMC) for the American market from 1981 until 1983—ultimately the only car brought to market by the fledgling c ...

*Dune buggies such as the Meyers Manx *

Fiat 500 The Fiat 500 ( it, Cinquecento, ) is a rear-engined, four-seat, small city car that was manufactured and marketed by Fiat Automobiles from 1957 until 1975 over a single generation in two-door saloon and two-door station wagon bodystyles. La ...

, 600, 850,

126 126 may refer to: *126 (number), a natural number *AD 126, a year in the 2nd century AD *126 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC *126 film, a cartridge-based film format used in still photography * 126 (New Jersey bus) * 126 Artist-run Gallery *Interst ...

and 133 * FMR Tg500 *

Hillman Imp The Hillman Imp is a small economy car that was made by the Rootes Group and its successor Chrysler Europe from 1963 until 1976. Revealed on 3 May 1963, after much advance publicity, it was the first British mass-produced car with the engine ...

Hino Contessa The Hino Contessa is an automobile which was produced by Hino Motors from 1961 to 1967. The Contessa was developed largely from the 1947-1961 Renault 4CV powertrain under license to Hino Motors. Offered in both coupe and sedan bodystyles, it r ...

* Mercedes-Benz 130/150/170H *

Mitsubishi i The is a kei car from automaker Mitsubishi Motors, first released in January 2006, twenty eight months after its debut at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. It is the first four-door automobile since the 1960s to employ a " rear midship" setup ...

and Mitsubishi i-MiEV * NSU Prinz * Porsche 356, 911 generations, and 959 *

Puma (car manufacturer) Puma Automóveis Ltda., or simply Puma, is a Brazilian manufacturer of sports cars and small trucks that began its activities in 1963 as Lumimari (named after the initials of its founders and partners: Luiz Roberto Alves da Costa, Milton Mastegu ...

* Renault 4CV, Dauphine, Floride, Caravelle, R8, R10 and the 3rd generation Twingo * Renault Alpine A106, A108, A110, A310 and GTA/A610 *

SEAT 600 The SEAT 600 is a city car made in Spain by SEAT from May 1957 until August 1973 under licence from Fiat. It helped to start the Spanish miracle (economic boom of 1959–1973) that came at the end of the slow recovery from the Spanish Civil War. I ...

, 850 and 133 * Simca 1000 * Škoda 1000/1100MB,MBX, 100/110,

110R Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

, 105/120/125, 130/135/136, Garde,

Rapid Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade ...

* Smart Fortwo, Roadster and 2nd generation

Smart Forfour The Smart Forfour (stylized as "smart forfour") is a city car ( A-segment) marketed by Smart over two generations. The first generation was marketed in Europe from 2004 to 2006 with a front-engine configuration, sharing its platform with the Mits ...

* Stout Scarab * Subaru 360 * Suzuki Fronte 360, Fronte 71 and 72, Fronte Coupé, Fronte LC20, Fronte 7-S / SS10 / SS20 and Cervo SS20 / SC100 *

Tata Nano The Tata Nano is a compact city car that was manufactured and marketed by Indian automaker Tata Motors over a single generation, primarily in India, as an inexpensive rear-engined hatchback intended to appeal to current riders of motorcycles ...

, Tata Pixel and Tata Magic Iris * Tatra 77, 87, 97, 600, 603,

613 __NOTOC__ Year 613 ( DCXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 613 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar ...

, 700 * Tesla Roadster, some versions of the Model S, and Model 3 * Tucker 48 'Torpedo' *Volkswagen Type 62 and Type 82 Kubelwagen, the Kommandeurswagen and Schwimmwagen *

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

, type 3 'pontoon', Karmann Ghia and type 4 (411/412), as well as the

VW Microbus The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the Ge ...

Transporter Transporter may refer to: * Transporter (vehicles), types of vehicles designed to transport items * Transporter wagon, a railway car designed to carry another railway car * Volkswagen Transporter, a model of van * Transporter bridge, a bridge wh ...

and type 181 'Thing' *

ZAZ ZAZ or Zaporizhzhia Automobile Building Plant ( uk, ЗАЗ, Запорізький автомобілебудівний завод, ''Zaporiz'kyi avtomobilebudivnyi zavod'' or ''Zaporiz'kyi avtozavod'') is the main automobile manufacturer of Ukr ...

Zaporozhets series.

References

{{Automobile configuration Car layouts de:Heckantrieb id:Mesin belakang ja:リアエンジン pt:Motor traseiro

Notable rear-engined cars

See also

References