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MOTORING

CITROËN CELEBRATES

ITS CENTENARY ON THE

BRINK OF AN EXCITING

NEW DECADE

COMPILED BY BEV HERMANSON

n 2018, Citroën commemorated the
140-year anniversary of the birth of its
charismatic founder, André Citroën and,
in 2019, the brand not only celebrated
its centenary but, here in South Africa
I– to the delight of Citroën enthusiasts -
we celebrated the return of Citroën after its
departure at the end of 2016.

With typical French flair, the three new
models launched last year already had
heads turning and, says Gary Bakos, Dealer
Principal at Peugeot-Citroën Fourways, sales
were solid right through to the end of the
year. “Even at the start of this year, we’re
seeing traction and the brand is being well
accepted by the market,” he says.

ORIGINS
Born in France to Dutch parents in 1878,
André-Gustav Citroën fully embraced the
spirit of the second industrial revolution,
also known as the technological revolution,
that spread throughout western Europe and
the United States. After graduating from
the Polytechnic School at the age of 22, he
started his first company at the age of 27,
achieving instant success by exploiting a
patent that he had registered for gears made
in the shape of rafters – (the double rafter
emblem, which became the mark of Citroën,
has endured since then).

Before the start of the First World War, André
Citroën had already become interested in
the automotive industry and, in 1912, at
the age of 34, he was appointed CEO of
the automotive firm, Bit. Then, during the
war years (1914 – 1919), he took up the
challenge of making ammunition for the
French army, using a predominantly female
labour force and refining the processes of
mass production.

At the end of the war, inspired by the
example of Henry Ford’s automotive
successes in the US, Citroën decided to
convert the ammunition facility into an
automotive factory, introducing first the
Citroën A-Type and then the B2, followed by
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