A brief overview of the history of Citroen.

An article covering the key events in the history of Citroen.

Citroen was initially established in 1919 by Andre-Gustave Citroen and they quickly went on to be the first mass production car company not based in the USA. The company also went on to pioneer the concept of creating a sales and service network based around one specific car. After just eight years Citroen had established themselves as Europe’s largest car manufacturer and fourth in the world overall.

In 1934 Citroen developed its first practical front-wheel drive vehicle, this was during the same year that the company introduced torsion bars, a dashboard gear shift and a unitised body to the commercial market. Thanks to all these cutting edge innovations Citroen quickly earned a reputation for producing high quality cars. They went on to introduce the DS-19 in 1955, this car was considered a step away from the usual models that Citroen had released in the past. The DS range of vehicles were the first of Citroen’s cars to use the company’s hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension systems as well as being the first European produced cars to feature disc brakes. This suspension system has since formed the basis for many of Citroen’s most critically acclaimed cars such as the Xantia, SM, C5, C6 and the XM.

Citroen acquired the Italian sports car brand Maserati in 1968 and then launched the grand tourer SM model which featured the high end V6 Maserati engine. Following this in 1976 Peugeot purchased Citroen through the acquisition of 90% of the company’s shares, Peugeot then sold the Maserati brand to DeTomaso. The C3 Pluriel was introduced onto the market in 2003, this vehicle was considered a return to form and innovation for Citroen and received widespread critical acclaim. The company went through a re-branding in 2009 to celebrate its 90th anniversary, it featured a new logo, a TV campaign and new slogan “Creative Technologie” and a special edition of the C3 Picasso.

Recently Citroen have released the C4 range which offers efficient driving, e-HDi technology and cruise control. An additional feature of the vehicle is the advanced storage solutions including a refrigerated storage console that can hold up to four 50cl bottle.