The Citroën Traction Avant was produced from 1934-1957. Citroën pioneered not only the world's first mass-produced front-wheel drive, independent-suspension car, but also as one of the first cars to feature a welded unitary body with no chassis frame holding the mechanical components. 

 

This method of construction was viewed with great suspicion in many quarters, with doubts about its strength. A crash test in the form of driving the car off a cliff was used to illustrate its inherent resilience.

 

The term 'Traction Avant' means front-wheel drive and was used by Citroën to distinguish the new models from the models still in production with the same fiscal horse power, but rear wheel drive.

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The front wheels were independently sprung, using a torsion bar and wishbone suspension arrangement, where most contemporaries used live axle and cart-type leaf spring designs. The rear suspension was a simple steel beam axle and a Panhard rod, trailing arms and torsion bars attached to a 75-millimetre (3 in) steel tube, which in turn was bolted to the main platform.

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