New Citroen

Citroen was one of the first auto companies to think of safety when designing their New Citroen cars in the 1920s. They did what few manufacturers had done up until that point and engineer new methods of creating a safer car.

A majority of car manufacturers had been using wood to create the frames for their vehicles, a material that does not hold up at all in any type of crash. It also does nothing to protect the occupants from serious injury. Citroen teamed up with an American auto body designer to bring the first all steel body to Europe, creating a new Citroen that could withstand crashes much more readily than before. However, it wasn’t long after that when other auto manufacturers caught on and started building their own steel body cars. New Citroens continued to sell, but the low price point caused heavy losses for the company. Never one to rest on their laurels, Citroen forged ahead by bringing new innovations to the market.

The Traction Avant introduced what are now common features for Citroen and a majority of cars around the world. They are the unibody, which has no separate frame, front wheel independent suspension and front wheel drive. These items may seem a bit of a yawn now were revolutionary when they were first introduced to the market. The unibody and front wheel independent suspension gave a smooth ride that no other car could compete with. The invention of front wheel drive by turning the engine sideways gave the cars superior traction over the rear wheel drive. No more struggling to get up a snowy road or feeling like riding on a jackhammer with these new inventions. Citroen turned cars into a joy to travel in.

WWII saw the production of Citroens slow down, but the engineers were still hard at work, despite the Germans orders to halt work. The result of the behind-the-scenes work brought the new Citroen 2CV, known as the two fiscal horsepower. It had a grand total of 12 HP, yet it sold for 42 years before being retired in 1990.

Citroen keeps innovation alive by bringing the latest in design and safety to the market year after year.  Their vehicles certainly have a following, and for good reason.