Brief History About Citroen
Citroen was founded in 1919 in France by André-Gustave Citroën. Citroen was one of the first mass-production car makers and one of the first to setup a sales and service network for its cars. Andre’s vision was to produce a quality and affordable car for the masses.
An innovative car maker from the beginning, they are also responsible for the world’s first hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system introduced in 1955. Infact they were so innovative and forward thinking that it would take up quite a few paragraphs to list their achievements here.
They have also been successful in Motor Racing, having won the World Rally Raid Championship, World Rally Championship, and the World Touring Car Championship.
During the 60’s Citroen purchased several other car makers, such as Panhard and Maserati to help build more powerful engines, while staying within the French Tax horsepower system. In 1968 Fiat purchased 49% shares in Citroen.
As with many other car makers, the 1973 oil crisis created financial problems for Citroen and bankruptcy was on the cards for them. They were also then forced to sell some of the other makes, including Maserati (to De Tomaso in 1975) and Fiat resold their 49% stake back to Michelin.
With financial struggles and poor sales, Peugeot took 38.2% of Citroen shares from Michelin in 1974 and by 1976 had almost a 90% stake creating the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.
Since the 80’s the new group have expanded to various other European countries and Asia and have even been selling cars in China since 1984. They have continued to grow the brand, although there was a slight hickup in 2014 with finances.
