Why Most Indian Cars Are Front Wheel Drive?


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There are lots of FWD cars in Iindia which cost between 1lacs to 15lacs a above none of these have a rear wheel drive.So i think Indian automobile industry gives no consideration to automobile enthusiasts.

Karthik.
 
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Cost effectiveness, efficiency and compact packaging. With FWD format they are free to do what ever feasible in the rear without much prob other than extending the sheet metal.
I share similar views.


tata made the nano a RWD as it is a rear engine car too thus saving on costs.
Yeah right. The power loss would be less, if everything is near the engine.
 

350Z

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Almost everything is covered in previous posts, In short I would say that its done to reduce the length of Drive Shaft so that that the power loss is much less.
The Rear Wheel Drives are generally seen on Mid OR Rear Engined cars.
The same I also told in my this post.

Drive Safe!
350Z
 
Thread Starter #23
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Almost everything is covered in previous posts, In short I would say that its done to reduce the length of Drive Shaft so that that the power loss is much lesser.
The Rear Wheel Drives are generally seen on Mid OR Rear Engined cars.
The same I also told in my this post.

Drive Safe!
350Z
Yes are are right,but i think all the Benz are RWD and most of their engines are are in the front.A class and b class are FWD.
----------Next Post------------
Sorry, I confused you, I wanted to say upcoming in India. Or is it that it is already launched !!
I haven't heard about the Launch.Anyway All BMW's are RWD except The BMW Mini Cooper.

Karthik.
 
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rear wheel drive depends upon efficiency of weight to power ratio.

if car is not rear heavy there would be much loss in energy when wheel pushes on road.

rear wheel drive have better stability and coherence benefiting on torque steers and in gear braking.giving better figure in overall centre of gravity stabilization due to spread of weight across the vehicle

but compared to fwd,rwd increases weight and cost due to addition of axle and gears at rear.
fwd drive makes shortest possible path for transmisson hence better efficiency

but tata nano cannot be completely included with standard rwd vehicles for a comparitive study as it is designed on a different platform unlike rest of the cars.
 
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Well then why not FWD in SUV'S too so that cost can be further reduced and also more fuel efficient?


PS: I am not arguing or debating , i want to know the reason , that's it.
 
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understand it by over all distribution of mass in suv which tends to be rear heavy.
moreover suvs are longer than those smaller cars.

if rear heavy vehicles are made fwd the chances of wheels slipping on roads while accelerating are increased when rear is loaded.
 
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Re: Why is Most Of Indian Cars Front Wheel Drive?

Maintenance & Cost of parts too will be on the higher side for rear wheel drive cars. Also, the manufacturer has to build cars with that "drive shaft tunnel" (seen in some old rear wheel drive cars. Vento being a FWD still has a seperator kind of thing on the floor that looks like a tunnel, may be its for strengthening of the body.

Logic is simple, The driving wheels+gear box + engine have to be as close as possible to save on quantity of metal used, thus helping in cost-cutting.

If engine is in front keep all moving/powered parts very close to it. This also gives good FE, and cars like hatchbacks & small engine Sedans like most of the ones we have here, I think FWD are fine. Only if the engine is big, power is more, handling is a top priority. Then RWD will be fine.
Also to carry loads RWD are good.
 
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As we see most the cars that is produced in India is Front-Wheel Drive(FWD) cars, only some cars are Rear-Wheel Drive(RWD) like Omni,Ambassador e.t.c
So my question is, why doesn't India produce RWD?

Karthik.
well whether a car would be rwd or fwd depends on manufacturer , like it depends if the car should be less weight ofcourse one should choose FWD and FWD cars will not skid while taking turns untill or unless done purposefully . where as if one wants to have high performance one should go for RWD . because when you accelerate the wieght of the car shifts to the rear wheels and hence chances of unnecessary wheels spin is avoided unlike on FWD . thats the reason most of high performance cars are RWD ( not in each and every sports car) and some high performance cars prefer 4WD ( like lamborghini etc..)
And when it comes to fuel efficiency FWD cars have good FE . Its not like only INDIAN car manufacturers use FWD it depends on the purpose the car is built for [:)]
 
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