Concept
Before the Primula, all Fiat Group passenger cars were rear-wheel drive; the larger models followed the classic FR layout (front engine powering the rear axle), and small cars were rear-engined. Meanwhile, a practical concept emerged, namely the front-wheel drive layout with the engine mounted transversely, which allowed for very efficient space utilization. First popularized by the Mini, it also found its way to other, bigger models, starting with BMC's Austin/Morris 1100.
Fiat's chief designer, Dante Giacosa, recognized the potential of the concept, but the company decided to experiment without risking damage to the image of its popular Fiat-branded cars. Thus the Autobianchi Primula emerged—a car marketed under a less crucial nameplate, for which it was an entry into a whole new class of vehicles.
Read more about this topic: Autobianchi Primula
Famous quotes containing the word concept:
“the full analysis of the notions of saying something and understanding what one said inevitably involves a concept which, as I will show in detail, essentially corresponds to the Cartesian idea of thought.”
—Zeno Vendler (b. 1921)
“There is a concept that is the corrupter and destroyer of all others. I speak not of Evil, whose limited empire is that of ethics; I speak of the infinite.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“The concept is interesting: to see, as though reflected
In streaming windowpanes, the look of others through
Their own eyes.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)