Full, front or rear? What types of drive are popular in the market for passenger cars?
Passenger cars have three types of drives: front, when engine power is transmitted to the front wheels; rear — if, accordingly, the rear wheels are driven, and full, if the transmission is able to rotate all four wheels (simultaneously, or with the connection of one of the axles as needed).
The general opinion is that the optimal choice is front-wheel drive — the driving wheels "pull" the car behind them, which gives a clearer behavior of the car on the road and better controllability, especially on slippery surfaces. All-wheel drive is somewhat specific, and at the beginning of the automotive industry, this design was intended only for all-terrain vehicles. The rear, as such, which is not too comfortable in winter, because it is prone to skidding and skidding, motorists mostly try to avoid. And what is the situation on the market now, if we move away from generalizations and consider a statistical slice?
Specialists of the Institute of Car Market Research analyzed the share of each of the three types of drives for individual years of production in advertisements for the sale of cars on the main classifieds sites in Ukraine. As a result, the following diagram was obtained:
Rear-wheel drive dominates in cars manufactured from 1992 onwards, as this technical solution was used quite often at that time, especially on cars produced at car factories of the Soviet Union. It was easier, cheaper, at the same time it was not possible to establish the production of reliable gearboxes, half-axles and hinges for the transition to front-wheel drive.
It can be seen how the popularity of rear-wheel drive has decreased over time — but not to the minimum, which should theoretically remain for not too numerous groups of sports cars or individual premium classic models. We see that from 2021 the presence of RWD cars is increasing. Why? The answer lies in the growing popularity of electric cars, many of which are equipped with rear-wheel drive. These are all "basic" Teslas, Volkswagen ID.4, Mitsubishi I-MiEV (and derivatives), BMW i3, some Porsche models, BYD, and many others.
Placing the traction batteries under the floor, evenly distributing the weight between the axles, adding electronic auxiliary systems made it possible to eliminate some of the negative properties of the rear drive on electric cars.
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The share of front-wheel drive cars is gradually decreasing, along with the decrease in the age of the cars. A part was occupied by the RWD options just described, and an even larger part of motorists was taken over by the all-wheel drive versions. So, despite all their balance and advantages, the machines of the FWD group are gradually reducing their presence on the market.
Cars of the 4×4 or AWD class began to gain popularity from 2000, when the first mass crossovers began to appear, and the quattro drive from Audi gained more and more fans. Further, since 2010, the share of cars with all drivers has grown even more, indicating the audienceʼs fascination with crossovers, which will later be joined by electric vehicles (including e-SUVs). However, now the task of the 4×4 scheme is not to give the car the ability to overcome off-road, but to provide better controllability and a more even distribution of power, which has increased significantly recently, in particular in electric cars. What allowed all-wheel drive to occupy the majority of the market in cars of recent years of production.
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