The History of Citroen
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Citroen the famous car manufacturer was born in 1934. He went to the Polytechnical school in Paris where he excelled as a student. From then he began working for the car company “Mors”. By the age of 27 he had founded his 1st company.
In 1913 he also founded another company to ensure the best use of his patent for carburettors. Early on Citroen was influenced by the business methods of Henry Ford who utilised the assembly line in 1908 in the USA.
In 1915 at the start of war, Andre received a commission to make 7500 grenades. Citroen then convinced the Ministry of Defence that he could in fact deliver bigger quantities if produced industrially.
By 1919 the first “citroen car” was produced. It had a four cylinder engine and was capable of a speed of 65km/h. During the year 2,500 cars were produced. However the following year they were producing 20,200!
In 1921 the Citroen taxis made their appearance onto the streets of Paris.
Eleven years on at the beginning of 1932 the C4 and C6 were built with the “floating power” engine. The engine was secured by mounts made of rubber in preference to being bolted to the chassis. This obviously eliminated a lot of the vibrations making it a more comfortable ride.
About this time they started to produce toy cars for children, a somewhat unusual idea!
However things took a turn for the worse after the Wall Street crash in 1929. In 1933 their factories were rebuilt which cost a great deal of money. In April of that year there was a strike at the factory. Cars stopped selling well overseas due to the exchange rates and restrictions against foreign products. By the end of the year they had amassed many debts.
December 1934 the company was declared bankrupt. Citroen died the next year.
It was from here that the Michelin Company became involved financial help and so the name continues today.
There are still countless “citroens” on our roads today and many of these are used for van leasing. It is often more viable to lease vans and indeed in years to come Citroen van leasing companies would be spread worldwide.
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