De Dion-Bouton Populaire

The De Dion-Bouton Populaire was the car in which the company moved its engine to the front, in 1903. It was offered with a 700 or 942 cc engine, the larger of the two being powerful enough to allow trucks to be added to the car range, and by the end of that year a reverse gear had also appeared. The Populaire began a run of models that grew more conventional in styling, with the radiator moving in front of the engine and the clutch changing from a hand lever to a pedal. It was joined by the 864 cc Types N and Q of 6 CV, the 8 CV Type R and the two-cylinder 12 CV Type S, the first multi-cylinder model the company built.