Drive mechanism for a motor vehicle

A drive assembly of a motor vehicle, having a multicylinder internal combustion engine and an electrical machine capable of driving a crankshaft of the engine, wherein the electrical machine can be switched to motor and generator modes, and having an electronic control unit for controlling direct injection and ignition of the engine, wherein at the start of the engine the crankshaft can be put in a predeterminable starting position via the electrical machine switched for motor operation, and upon attaining the starting position of the crankshaft, fuel is injected into a starting cylinder and ignition is effected, characterized in that the starting cylinder is the cylinder, whose piston can be brought into the starting position over the shortest crankshaft rotation path, and a torque is exerted on the crankshaft by the electrical machine during the entire starting operation until the engine reaches running speed.