I've been intrigued by the T-44 and the adoption by the Soviets of the transverse engine layout of all subsequent designs, which significantly lowered weight by shrinking length and height of tank designs. Though this makes the AFVs somewhat more cramped they reduce complexity by quite a bit compared to the Western European/American style of having a power train run under the tank to run the front drive.
Transverse engines also existed in car designs in the 1930s, so there is no reason that it couldn't have been applied to AFVs if someone wanted to try it.
Which brings me to my what if: Given that historically German designs had the issue with the front drive what if Daimler Benz when designing their VK20.01 entry decided to really cut weight and improve their design by turning the engine 90 degrees and leaving it perpendicular to the rear drive? Their entry had a rear drive already, which helped cut the height of the design due to not having the power train running underneath the tank. Which means when they move on to the VK30.02 their version then allows for a lighter, more compact design and could accommodate the historical Panther turret and wins the design competition. So the Panther ITTL is laid out like the T-44, so having heavy frontal armor, but the weight is only about 34-35 tons and thus not mechanically overloaded.
So how does this version of the Panther actually perform if it is mechanically reliable, considerably lighter, and simpler?