Citroën

History

André Citroën graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1900 and visited his mother's homeland, Poland, shortly after she died. During that holiday, he saw a carpenter working on a set of gears with a fishbone structure that were less noisy and more efficient. Citroën bought the patent for very little money, leading to the invention of double helical gears. The next year, he and his partners invested a significant portion of his inheritance in founding "Citroën, Hinstin et Cie," a gear manufacturing business specializing in V-shaped helical gears, starting with about ten workers.

Citroën had a successful six-year stint working with Mors between 1908 and the outbreak of World War I. He built armaments for France during the war, but he realized that unless he planned ahead, he would have a modern factory without a product afterward.

Early years

Citroën began planning to switch to automobile manufacturing by 1916, when he asked the engineer Louis Dufresne, previously with Mors rival Panhard, to design a technically sophisticated 18-horsepower 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 the 1909 creator of Le Zèbre, French automotive engineer Jules Salomon, with a mandate that was characteristically both demanding and simple: produce an all-new design for a 10-horsepower car that would be better equipped, more robust, and less costly to produce than any rival product at the time.

The result was the Citroën 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 showroom 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 organises 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 10HP Type A. In the same year, it produced 30 cars daily, totaling 2,810 vehicles, with 12,244 produced in 1920.

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 until 1935.

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.

Traction Avant and Michelin ownership

The Traction Avant is a car that pioneered the mass production of three revolutionary features that are still in use today: a unitary body with no separate frame, four wheel independent suspension and front-wheel drive. Whereas for many decades, the vast majority of motor cars were similar in conception to the Ford Model T – a body bolted onto a ladder frame which held all the mechanical elements of the car, a solid rear axle that rigidly connected the rear wheels and rear wheel drive. The Model T school of automobile engineering proved popular because it was considered cheap to build, although it did pose dynamic defects as automobiles were becoming more capable, and resulted in heavier cars, which is why today cars are more like the Traction Avant than the Model T under the skin.

In 1934 Citroën commissioned the American Budd Company to create a prototype, which evolved into the 7 fiscal horsepower (CV), 32 hp (24 kW) Traction Avant.

Achieving quick development of the Traction Avant, tearing down and rebuilding the factory (in five months) and the extensive marketing efforts, were investments that resulted too costly for Citroën to do all at once, causing the financial ruin of the company. In December 1934, despite the assistance of the Michelin company, Citroën filed for bankruptcy. Within the month, Michelin, already the car manufacturer's largest creditor, became its principal shareholder. However, the technologically advanced Traction Avant had met with market acceptance, and the basic philosophy of cutting-edge technology used as a differentiator, continued until the late 1990s. Pierre Michelin became the chairman of Citroën early in 1935. Pierre-Jules Boulanger, his deputy, became the vice-president and chief of the engineering and design departments. In 1935, the founder André Citroën died from stomach cancer.

Pierre-Jules Boulanger had been a First World War air reconnaissance photography specialist with the French Air Force; he was capable and efficient and finished the war with the rank of captain. He was also courageous, having been decorated with the Military Cross and the Legion of Honour. He started working for Michelin in 1918, reporting directly to Édouard Michelin, co-director and founder of the business. Boulanger joined the Michelin board in 1922 and became president of Citroën in January 1938 after the death in a road accident of his friend Pierre Michelin remaining in this position until his own death in 1950. In 1938, he also had become Michelin's joint managing director.

PSA Peugeot Citroën era

Fearing large job losses due to the poor cash flow situation and the unstable ownership structure, the French government arranged talks between Citroën and Michelin culminating in the merger of Automobiles Citroën and Automobiles Peugeot into a single company. Thus, one year after the break with Fiat, on 24 June 1974 Citroën announced the new partnership, this time with Peugeot. to whom Michelin agreed to transfer control of the business.

In December 1974 Peugeot S.A. acquired a 38.2% share of Citroën and on 9 April 1976 it increased its stake of the then bankrupt company to 89.95%, thus creating the PSA Group (where PSA is short for Peugeot Société Anonyme), becoming PSA Peugeot Citroën.

In May 1975 Maserati was sold to De Tomaso and the new Italian owner was thereby able to exploit the sales potential of the models and technology developed by Citroën, as well as to utilise the image of the Maserati brand in a downward brand extension to sell 40,000 of the newly designed Bi-Turbo models. The truck manufacturing company Berliet was sold to Renault.

This new PSA venture was a financial success from 1976 to 1979. Citroën had two successful new designs in the market, the GS and CX. In the wake of the oil crisis, the brand also had resurgent sales for the 2CV and the Dyane, and soon the Peugeot 104 based Citroën Visa and Citroën LNA. Peugeot was typically prudent with its own finances. Then, PSA purchased the ageing assets and substantial liabilities of Chrysler Europe for $1, leading to losses from 1980 to 1985. PSA resurrected the Talbot name for the Chrysler cars, but stopped producing cars with the badge in 1987 as the cars were considered unreliable and poorly-made.

At the 2019 Geneva International Motor Show, the manufacturer presented the Ami One concept car to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Then, in May 2019, it unveiled the Citroën 19_19 Concept at the Viva Technology show in Paris.

In the early 1980s, Citroën was targeted by union action. On 25 May 1982, events led to a mass demonstration in the streets of Paris, when approximately 27,000 workers affirmed their wish to work at a company, which was being picketed by striking workers who had been blocking access to the factories for four weeks. The demonstration was successful and six days later work at the plants resumed. Jacques Lombard, one of the company's senior managers, had gone public with his concerns, criticising the strikes.

Recent decades

From 2003 to 2010, Citroën produced the C3 Pluriel, an unusual convertible with allusions to the 1948–1990 2CV model, both in body style (such as the bonnet) and in its all-round practicality.

In 2001 it celebrated its history of innovation when it opened a museum of its many significant vehicles: the Conservatoire with 300 cars.

In line with the severe decline in European car sales after 2009, worldwide sales of vehicles declined from 1,460,373 in 2010 to 1,435,688 in 2011, with 961,156 of these sold in Europe.

In 2011, the PSA Group was close to forming a partnership with BMW, for the development of electric and hybrid vehicles, but the talks fell through, shortly after Groupe PSA, Citroën's parent company, had announced a partnership with GM, which later also failed.

Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën continues growing, and has developed eight new car designs exclusively for the China market. By 2016 Citroën (and Peugeot) faced the same challenge as Volkswagen in China: there were too many sedans and hatchbacks, but not enough models in the strong selling SUV and minivan/MPV categories.

The brand ranked highest in the 2014 customer satisfaction survey by JD Power in China, above luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, and above mass market brands, like Volkswagen, ranking only thirteenth and seventeenth respectively. In the first ten months of 2014 in China, the sales of Dongfeng Citroën cars increased by 30% in an overall market growth of 11%.

Despite the near-death financial experience of PSA Peugeot Citroën in 2014, and financial rescue by Dongfeng Motors, the Citroën and DS brands worked to develop new technologies with the hope to grow 15% by 2020, according to Citroën CEO Linda Jackson and DS CEO Yves Bonnefont. In the end sales of the Citroën and DS brands in Europe and China fell by 22% by 2019, and fell even further during the 2020 COVID outbreak.

In January 2020, Linda Jackson was succeeded as CEO of Citroën by the deputy CEO Vincent Cobée, and she would instead "lead a study to clarify and support brand differentiation within a brand portfolio".

DS brand

In early 2009, Citroën announced the development of the premium brand DS, for Different Spirit or Distinctive Series (although the reference to the historical Citroën DS is evident), to run in parallel to its mainstream cars. The slogan of the DS car marque is "Spirit of avant-garde".

This new series of cars started early in 2010, with the DS3, a small car based on the floorpan of the new C3. The DS3 is based on the concept that preceded the C3 Pluriel production model and the Citroën DS Inside concept car. The DS3 is customisable with various roof colours contrasting with the body panels; it was named 2010 Car of the Year by Top Gear Magazine, and was awarded best supermini four times in a row by the JD Power Satisfaction Survey UK and second most efficient supermini (Citroën DS3 1.6 e-HDi 115 Airdream: True MPG 63.0mpg) by What car? behind the C3. In 2013 the DS3 was again the best-selling premium subcompact car, with 40% of the European market share, validating the business model of this product development.

The DS series is deeply connected to Citroën, as the DS4 launched in 2010, is based on the 2008 Citroën Hypnos concept car and the DS5, which followed in 2015 being based on the 2005 C-SportLounge concept car.

The rear badge is a new DS logo rather than the familiar Citroën double chevron and all will have markedly different styling from their equivalent sister cars. Citroën has produced several dramatic looking concept sports cars of late, with the fully working Citroën Survolt being badged as a DS. Indeed, the 2014 DS Divine concept car develops the Citroën Survolt prototype as the future sport coupé of the DS range.

In China, Citroën has standalone DS showrooms, as well as entire plants built specifically for the production of these vehicles. Since 2014 Citroën has sold the Chinese-built DS 5LS and DS 6WR in China.

List of CEOs

Current: Xavier Chardon (since May 2025)

Previous CEOs

Claude Satinet (1998–2007)

Giles Michel (2007–2008)

Jean-Marc Gales (2008–2009)

Frédéric Banzet (2009–2014)

Linda Jackson (2014–2020)

Vincent Cobée (2020–2023)

Thierry Koskas (2023–2025)

Advertising

André Citroën was an early leader in marketing through "spectacle," and often used very public displays to keep the brand known. At the Paris Auto Show opening on 4 October 1922, the business achieved something new when an aeroplane, flown by Alfred Fronval, wrote the name "Citroën" in smoke where the letters were five kilometres in length in the sky. . This is generally accepted as the first time skywriting was used to advertise a business. Following on from that, the company turned the Eiffel Tower into what was, at the time, the world’s biggest advertising display, between 1925 and 1934. With 250,000 lightbulbs and 600 kilometres of electrical wiring, the name Citroën was lit up on three faces of the tower, and was said to be visible to Charles Lindbergh as he flew towards Paris during his 1927 trip across the Atlantic.

In the 1980s, Citroën kept up its habit of unusual branding by asking the well-known French cartoonist Jean Giraud – who went by the name of Moebius to make promotional items. In 1983, Giraud was given the job of producing a short cartoon, Sur l’Étoile (Upon a Star), for a sales meeting; this included a Citroën Traction Avant and a 2CV as key parts of a strange, science fiction story. The success of this led Giraud to turn the story into Le Monde d’Edena (The World of Edena), a series of comics which was very well received by critics. The first promotional work – which put cars into high-level graphic art with no trouble, is still an important instance of a company helping the arts, and was afterwards put into books such as Moebius: A Collection of Advertising Art.

Awards

Citroën was recognised in the 1999 Car of the Century competition as producing the third most influential car of the 20th century, the Citroën DS, behind the Ford Model T and BMC Mini.

Citroën has produced three winners of the 50-year-old European Car of the Year award, and many rated second or third place.

Citroën has produced one winner of the United States Motor Trend Car of the Year award – the original Car of the Year designation, which began in 1949. This was especially significant because this award used to be only given to cars designed and built in the United States.

Citroën has produced eight Auto Europa winners in 28 years, since 1987. Auto Europa is the prize awarded by the jury of the Italian Union of Automotive Journalists (UIGA), which annually celebrates the best car produced at least at 10,000 units in the 27 countries of the European Union: Citroën XM (1990), Citroën ZX (1992), Citroën Xantia (1994), Citroën Xsara Picasso (2001), Citroën C5 (2002), Citroën C3 (2003), Citroën C4 (2005) and Citroën DS4 (2012).

In 2023, Citroën won the 'Sustainability Initiative Award' of the year at the Auto Trader New Cars Awards 2023.

Motorsport

Citroën Racing, previously known as Citroën Sport and before that as Citroën Competitions, is the division responsible for Citroën's own sporting activities. It is a successful winning competitor in the World Rally Championship and in the World Touring Car Championship.

In 2019, Citroën announced its withdrawal from the World Rally Championship (WRC).

Early rally wins for Citroën vehicles

Citroën vehicles were entered in endurance rally driving events beginning in 1956, with the introduction of the DS. The brand was successful and won many key events over a decades long period, with what was essentially the same production car design.

Racing the 2CV

Citroën discovered that while racing the uniquely slow 2CV against other cars made little sense, they could be interesting to watch racing against each other. Citroën Competitions sponsored three long distance competitions – Paris-Kaboul-Paris in 1970, Paris-Persepolis-Paris in 1972, and Raid Afrique in 1973.

Enthusiasts carried on the tradition with 2CV Cross – a group of 2CV's racing around a dirt track – a sport that continues today.

Rebuilding the competition group

The Citroën Competitions division was impacted negatively by the firm's 1974 bankruptcy.

Competitive rallying was also changing – away from standard production cars to specially developed low volume models. In response to the entry of the competitive short wheel base Group B 4 wheel drive Audi Quattro into rallying, Citroën developed the heavily modified Group B Citroën BX 4TC in 1986.

The team returned successfully with the Citroën ZX Rally Raid to win the Rally Raid Manufacturer's Championship five times (1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997) with Pierre Lartigue and Ari Vatanen. Citroën Racing won the Dakar Rally four times, in 1991, continuing the serial of four victories of Peugeot sport, and then again in 1994, 1995, and 1996.

From 2001, the Citroën Racing team returned successfully to the World Rally Championship, winning eight times the Manufacturer's Title, continuing the serial of three WRC Championships victories of Peugeot sport, in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012. The Citroën WRC Team pilot Sébastien Loeb also won nine Drivers' Championships. In 2004, 2005, and 2006, the French pilot won the Drivers' Championship, driving the Citroën Xsara WRC, in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 with the Citroën C4 WRC, and in 2011 and 2012 with the new Citroën DS3 WRC.

The Citroën World Rally Team has a record of 97 victories in the World Rally Championship.

New competition division for touring cars

In 2012, Citroën announced plans to enter the World Touring Car Championship. The team transformed a DS3 WRC into a laboratory vehicle to help with early development, while the engine was an evolution of their WRC engine which had been used in the WRC since 2011. Citroën started developing the car for the new TC1 regulations, which were brought forward a year early in 2014 to expedite the entry of Citroën into the championship. The introduction of the new regulations a year earlier than planned gave a seven-month development headstart to Citroën over the other manufacturers. This large development advantage combined with a big budget and a strong driver line-up made Citroën the clear favourite going into the first season of the new regulations in 2014. Citroën would go on to win most of the races that season as well as the manufacturers' title, while José María López won the drivers' title. The team would repeat this feat in 2015 and 2016, before the factory team left the series at the end of 2016. A number of Citroëns were still raced by other teams in 2017, but were outpaced by the Hondas and the Volvos.

Formula E

On 12/09/2025 Citroën announced its return to the international scene at the highest level by entering the Formula E championship from the 2025/26 season

Concept cars

Citroën has produced numerous concept cars over the decades, previewing future design trends or technologies. Notable concepts include the Citroën Karin (1980), Citroën Activa (1988), Citroën C-Métisse (2006), GT by Citroën (2008) and Citroën Survolt (2010).

Logo

The origin of the logo may be traced back to a trip made by the 22-year-old André Citroën to the city of Łódź in Poland, where he discovered an innovative design for a chevron-shaped gear used in milling. He bought the patent for its application in steel. Mechanically a gear with helical teeth produces an axial force. By adding a second helical gear in opposition, this force is cancelled. The two chevrons of the logo represent the intermeshing contact of the two. Early Citroën cars used a herringbone bevel gear final drive in the rear axle.

The presentation of the logo has evolved over time. Before the war, it was rendered in yellow on a blue background. After the war, the chevrons became more subtle herringbones, usually on a white background. With the company searching for a new image during the 1980s, the logo became white on red to give an impression of dynamism.

On 5 February 2009, Citroën launched a new brand identity to celebrate its 90th anniversary, replacing the 1985 design. The new logo was a 3D metallic variation of the double chevron logo accompanied by a new font for the Citroën name and the new slogan "Créative Technologie". A TV campaign reminiscing over 90 years of Citroën was commissioned to announce the new identity to the public. In October 2016, Citroën released an alternative version of its logo in 2D, adopting the flat design style, which was very popular at the time. In 2022, the brand unveiled a new badge design which is a modern-day representation of its original 1919 logo, returning the oval shape to the two chevrons.

Logo evolution

Citroën logos through the history:

Factories

Argentina (El Palomar): C4 Lounge (2013–2021), Berlingo

Brazil (Porto Real): C4 Cactus, C3

France (Mulhouse): DS 4 (2010–2018), DS 7

France (Poissy): DS 3

France (Rennes): C5 Aircross

France (Sochaux): DS 5 (2011-2018)

Portugal (Mangualde): Berlingo

Serbia (Kragujevac): C3

Slovakia (Trnava): C3

Spain (Madrid): C4 Cactus

Spain (Opel Zaragoza): C3 Aircross

Spain (Vigo): Berlingo First, Berlingo, Xsara Picasso, C4 Picasso / C4 Grand Picasso, C-Elysee

Turkey (Tofaş Bursa): Nemo (2007-2017)

Some joint venture models are manufactured in third party or joint venture factories, including the following:

China (Shenzhen), Chang'an PSA joint venture: DS 5LS and DS 6WR

China (Wuhan), Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile joint venture: C-Elysee, C3 L, Xsara Picasso, C4 L, C5

Czech Republic (Kolín), Toyota/PSA joint venture: C1

France (Valenciennes), PSA/Fiat joint venture Sevel Nord: Jumpy/Dispatch

International markets

Australia

Having been present in Australia since 1923, Citroën has been the country's longest continuously-running car manufacturer. However, the brand announced in August 2024 that it would stop taking orders in Australia by 1 November 2024 due to slow sales.

Current product lineup