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André Citroën (1878–1935) built armaments for France during World War I;
after the war, however, he realized that unless he planned ahead he would
have a modern factory without a product. Citroën was already experienced
in the automotive business, thanks to a successful six-year stint working
with Mors between 1908 and the outbreak of war.The decision to switch to
automobile manufacturing was taken as early as 1916, which is the year
when Citroën asked the engineer Louis Dufresne, previously with Panhard,
to design a technically sophisticated 18HP automobile he could produce in
his factory once peace returned. Long before that happened, however, he
had modified his vision and decided, like Henry Ford, that the best
post-war opportunities in auto-making would involve a lighter car of good
quality, but made in sufficient quantities to be priced enticingly. In
February 1917 Citroën contacted another engineer, Jules Salomon, who
already had a considerable reputation within the French automotive sector
as the creator, in 1909, of a little car called Le Zèbre. André Citroën's
mandate was characteristically demanding and characteristically simple: to
produce an all-new design for a 10 HP car that would be better equipped,
more robust and less costly to produce than any rival product at the
time.
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The result was the Type A, announced to the press in March 1919, just
four months after the guns fell silent. The first production Type A
emerged from the factory, located at Quai de Javel, Vaugirard, Paris, at
the end of May 1919 and in June it was exhibited at a show room at Number
42, on the Champs-Élysées in Paris which normally sold Alda cars. Citroën
persuaded the owner of the Alda business, Fernand Charron, to lend him the
showroom, which is still in use today. This C42 showroom is where the
company organizes exhibitions and shows its vehicles and concept cars. A
few years later, Charron would be persuaded to become a major investor in
the Citroën business. On 7 July 1919, the first customer took delivery of
a new Citroën 10HP Type A.
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That same year, André Citroën briefly negotiated with General Motors a
proposed sale of the Citroën company. The deal nearly closed, but General
Motors ultimately decided that its management and capital would be too
overstretched by the takeover. thus Citroën remained independent till
1935.
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Between 1921 and 1937, Citroën produced half-track vehicles for off-road
and military uses, using the Kégresse track system. In the 1920s, the U.S.
Army purchased several Citroën-Kégresse vehicles for evaluation followed
by a licence to produce them. This resulted in the United States Army
Ordnance Department building a prototype in 1939. In December 1942, it
went into production with the M2 Half Track Car and M3 Half-track
versions. The U.S. eventually produced more than 41,000 vehicles in over
70 versions between 1940 and 1944. After their 1940 occupation of France,
the Nazis captured many of the Citroën half-track vehicles and armored
them for their own use.
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The Eiffel Tower served as a billboard for Citroën from 1925 to
1934.
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Citroën used the Eiffel Tower as the world's largest advertising sign, as
recorded in Guinness World Records. He also sponsored expeditions in Asia
(Croisière Jaune), North America (Croisière Blanche) and Africa (Croisière
Noire), demonstrating the potential for motor vehicles equipped with the
Kégresse track system to cross inhospitable regions. These expeditions
conveyed scientists and journalists.
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Demonstrating extraordinary toughness, a 1923 Citroën that had already
travelled 48,000 km (30,000 mi) was the first car to be driven around
Australia. The car, a 1923 Citroën 5CV Type C Torpedo, was driven by
Neville Westwood from Perth, Western Australia, on a round trip from
August to December 1925. This vehicle is now fully restored and in the
collection of the National Museum of Australia.
Citroën
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Share of the S. A. André Citroën, issued 30 September 1927
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In 1924, Citroën began a business relationship with the American engineer
Edward G. Budd. From 1899, Budd had worked to develop stainless steel
bodies for railroad cars, for the Pullman in particular. Budd went on to
manufacture steel bodies for many automakers, Dodge being his first big
auto client. At the Paris Motor Show in October 1924, Citroën introduced
the Citroën B10, the first all-steel body in Europe. These automobiles
were initially successful in the marketplace, but soon competitors who
were still using a wooden structure for their vehicles, introduced new
body designs. Citroën, who did not redesign the bodies of his cars, still
sold in large quantities nonetheless, the cars' low price being the main
selling point, which factor however caused Citroën to experience heavy
losses.[citation needed]
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In 1927, the bank Lazard helped Citroën by bringing new much-needed
funds, as well as by renegotiating its debt—for example, by buying out the
Société de Vente des Automobiles Citroën (SOVAC). It went even further by
entering in its capital and being represented on the board; the three
directors sent by Lazard were Raymond Philippe, Andre Meyer and Paul
Frantzen. André Citroën perceived the need to differentiate his product,
to avoid the low price competition surrounding his conventional rear drive
models in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1933 he introduced the
Rosalie, the first commercially available passenger car with a diesel
engine, developed with Harry Ricardo.
