Posts Tagged ‘citreon cars’
A History of Citroen
Andre 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 founded another company to make 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 could in fact deliver bigger quantities if produced industrially.
By 1919 the 1st “citroen car” was produced. It had a 4 cylinder engine and was capable of speeds of 65km/h. During the year 2,500 cars were produced. 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 with the “floating power” engine. The engine was made secure by rubber mounts in preference to being bolted to the chassis. This obviously eliminated a lot of the vibrations making it a more comfortable ride.
Around this time they started to produce toy cars for children, a very unusual idea!
However things took a turn for the worse after the Wall Street crash in October 1929. In 1933 their factories were rebuilt which meant a great expense. In April of that year there was a strike at the factory. Cars began to stop selling well abroad due to the exchange rates and restrictions against foreign products. By the end of the year they had amassed many debts.
By December 1934 the company was declared bankrupt. Citroen passed away the following 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.