Posts Tagged ‘citreon cars’
A History of Citroen
Andre Citroen the famous car manufacturer was born in 1934. He attended the Polytechnical school in Paris where he was an excellent student. From there he started working for the car company “Mors”. By age 27 he had founded his first company.
In 1913 he also founded another company to ensure the best use of his patent for carburettors. In the beginning Citroen was influenced by the business methods of Henry Ford who utilised the assembly line as early as 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 would in fact deliver larger quantities if produced industrially.
By 1919 the first “citroen car” was produced. It had a 4 cylinder engine and was capable of speeds of 65km/h. During the year they produced 2,500 cars. However the next year they were producing 20,200!
In 1921 the Citroen taxis made their entrance onto the streets of Paris.
Eleven years on at the beginning of 1932 the C4 and C6 were built using the “floating power” engine. The engine was made secure by rubber mounts in preference to being bolted to the chassis. Obviously this eliminated a lot of the vibrations making it a much 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. By April of that year there was a strike at the factory. Cars stopped selling profitably abroad due to the exchange rates and restrictions against foreign products. By the end of the year they had accrued several debts.
By December 1934 the company was declared bankrupt. Andre Citroen died the next year.
It was from here that the Michelin Company stepped in with financial help and therefore 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.