A permanent magnet motor has a rotor and a stator. The rotor has a shaft, a rotor core fixed to the shaft, a commutator fixed to the shaft adjacent to the rotor core, and rotor windings wound about poles of the rotor core and electrically connected to the commutator. The stator includes a magnetically conductive round housing, permanent magnets fixed to an inner surface of the housing, and brushes for making sliding contact with the commutator. The ratio of an outer diameter of the rotor core to an outer diameter of the housing is between 66% to 84%.