Peugeot engineers visited the DF104 workshop. They saw the longitudinal engine, the flat floor, the structural firewall. Peugeot realized Renault had solved the packaging puzzle but failed the production test.
In the pantheon of lost prototypes, the DF104 is unique: It was not a flight of fancy. It was a sound, logical, brilliant solution to a problem—simply born ten years too early and into the wrong company. renault df104
Unlike the transverse Fiat 127 or the Mini, the DF104 prototype housed its engine (an all-new, all-aluminum 956cc or 1108cc unit) longitudinally , with the gearbox mounted under the engine sump. The differential was ahead of the engine. Power flowed from the crank, down into the gearbox, then forward to the front wheels. Peugeot engineers visited the DF104 workshop