What Was The First Car With AWD And Who Made It?

All-wheel-drive cars are the norm these days, with a wide range of models from all segments making use of the traction-enhancing technology. Whereas front- and rear-wheel-drive cars send the power to just two wheels, all-wheel-drive cars have the ability to send power to all four wheels. This technology has been in use with all-terrain cars for some time, but more recently, hybridized and high-performance models have also been taking advantage of the technology.

Many confuse all-wheel-drive with four-wheel-drive, but there is one key difference. Four-wheel-drive vehicles send the engine's power to all four wheels equally, whereas all-wheel-drive cars have the ability to split the proportion of power to each wheel, either mechanically or electrically.

For example, the first-generation Audi R8 is all-wheel-drive, yet power is not distributed evenly across all four wheels. Instead, the Quattro all-wheel-drive system sends 70% of the car's grunt to the rear wheels, and just 30% to the front. In a four-wheel-drive car, such as the original Land Rover Defender, the front-to-rear split is an even 50%.

Porsche is a brand very much synonymous with hybrid and all-wheel-drive cars, with a wide selection of premium electrified models, such as the Panamera and Cayenne E-Hybrid range. However, these are certainly far from being the first of anything, so how is Porsche relevant here?

Wind the clock back 125 years, and a youthful Ferdinand Porsche was working on a production car with a very different setup than those aforementioned hybrid and all-wheel-drive models.

The 1900 Lohner-Porsche was equipped with a wheel-hub motor in each of the four corners, and those were powered by batteries which took charge from an onboard gas generator. Not only had Ferdinand invented the very first hybrid car here, but also the very first car to sport all-wheel-drive.

Ferdinand Porsche didn't take this project on alone, rather he pioneered the design for Ludwig Lohner & Co – hence the name, Lohner-Porsche. While this is, technically, the world's first all-wheel-drive car, it never made it into mass production – that achievement came much, much later.

Between 1900 and 1965, all-wheel-drive was mostly reserved for vehicles with military and off-road applications. This was logical, as cars of this era did not boast the heady outputs of modern cars, so sending power to all four wheels was not required in order to keep traction.

However, sports cars progressed by leaps and bounds during the 1960s, with many iconic European nameplates looking to out-do one-another in an effort to boost sales. Among the big names, like Aston Martin, Ferrari, and Maserati, was a small-but-plucky British manufacturer named Jensen. Keen to stand out from the crowd, Jensen developed a Chrysler V8-powered, Carrozzeria Touring-penned grand touring coupe, with a drivetrain that was, at the time, entirely unique.

The system used was dubbed the Ferguson Formula, and consisted of a master-differential, and two one-way clutches. According to the Jensen Museum, "the master differential is a planetary gear permitting a speed variation between front and rear output, and also dividing the torque unequally in the ratio of 37% to the front road wheels and 63% to the rear".

This rear-bias would have provided playful and sports car-like driving characteristics to the 330-bhp GT, yet the car would've sported improved traction, thanks to the front wheels also sharing the task of distributing power to the road.

Ultimately, the FF would only sell in small numbers, with just 320 finding homes – although most remaining examples still sport the original Ferguson Formula all-wheel-drive system, which is testament to the durability of the ingenious and rugged original design.