Citroen forever

Citroën  is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.
Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën (1878–1935), Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA  and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that complements the motor car. Within eight years Citroën had become Europe's largest car manufacturer and the 4th largest in the world.
itroën earned a reputation for innovation and revolutionary engineering, which is reflected in the company's slogan "Créative Technologie". Its history of innovation began with its founding, when André-Gustave Citroën introduced the first industrial mass production of vehicles outside the United States, a technique he developed mass-producing armaments for the French military in World War I. In 1924, Citroën produced Europe’s first all-steel-bodied car, the B-10. In 1934, Citroën secured its reputation for innovation with its Traction Avant, not only the world's first mass-produced front-wheel drive car, but also one of the first cars to feature a monocoque-type body. In 1954 Citroën produced the world's first hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system, then in 1955 the revolutionary Citroën DS, the first European production car with disc brakes. In 1967, Citroën introduced the first swiveling headlights in several models, allowing for greater visibility on winding roads.

André Citroën
André Citroën built armaments for France during World War I and after the war he had a factory and no product. In 1919, the business started to produce automobiles, beginning with the conventional Type A. The Type A was designed by Jules Salomon, Chief Design Officer from Le Zèbre.
Citroën was a keen marketer—he used the Eiffel Tower as the world's largest advertising sign, as recorded in the Guinness Book of Records. He also sponsored expeditions in Asia (Croisière Jaune) and Africa (Croisière Noire), intended to demonstrate the potential for motor vehicles equipped with the Kégresse track system to cross inhospitable regions. The expeditions conveyed scientists and journalists.
Demonstrating extraordinary toughness, a 1923 Citroën that had already travelled 48,000 km was the first car to be driven around Australia. The car, a 1923 Citroën 5CV Type C Torpedo, was driven by Neville Westwood from Perth, Western Australia on a round trip from August to December 1925. The car is now fully restored and in the collection of the National Museum of Australia.
In 1924, Citroën began a business relationship with American engineer Edward G. Budd. From 1899, Budd had worked to develop stainless steel bodies for railroad cars, for the Pullman in particular. Budd went on to manufacture steel bodies for many automakers, Dodge being his first big auto client. At the Paris Motor Show in October 1924, Citroën introduced the Citroën B10, the first all-steel body in Europe.
The cars were initially successful in the marketplace, but soon competitors (who were still using a wooden structure for their bodies), introduced new body designs. Citroën did not redesign the bodies of his cars. Citroëns still sold in large quantities in spite of not changing the body design, but the car's low price was the main selling point and Citroën experienced heavy losses.
In an attempt to remedy the situation, Citroën developed the Traction Avant. The Traction Avant had three revolutionary features: a unitary body with no separate frame, front wheel independent suspension, and front wheel drive. Citroën commissioned Budd to create a prototype, which evolved into the 7 horsepower (CV), 32 hp (24 kW) Traction Avant of 1934.
In 1933, Citroën also introduced the Rosalie, the first commercially available passenger car with a diesel engine, developed with Harry Ricardo.

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Citroën je francuski proizvođač automobila, kojeg je 1919. godine osnovao André Citroën. Citroën je prva kompanija  izvan SAD-a koja je uvela masovnu proizvodnju automobila. Citroën je od 1976.g. deo PSA Peugeot Citroën grupacije, čije je sedište u Parizu.
Citroën je danas masovni proizvođač automobila s modernim dizajnom i inovativnom tehnologijom. Prvi je u masovnu proizvodnju stavio automobil s prednjim pogonom 1934. godine. Do 1980-ih godinakompanija je postala ;uvena po svojim atraktivnim dizajniranim automobilima i inovativnosti.
 Najpoznatiji modeli bili su H Van (1947-1981), 2CV (popularnog naziva: spaček) (1948.1980), DS (popularnog naziva: ajkula) (1955-1975)....



André-Gustave Citroën
André-Gustave Citroën (5. februara 1878. - Pariz, 3. aprila 1935.), francuski inženjer holandskog porekla Fabrika automobila Citroën nosi njegovo ime.
André-Gustave je peto i poslednje dete  holandjanina  Leviea Citroena i Mazre Kleinmann (Varšava, Poljska).
 Familija Citroen se 1837. preselila iz Amsterdama u Pariz i promijenila prezime u Citroën.
André je diplomirao na École Polytechnique 1900. Za vrijeme Prvog svetskog rata počeo je masovno proizvoditi oružje. André je osnovao Citroën 1919. i time postao četvrti proizvođač u svietu za vreme 1930-ih. Preminuo je od raka želuca 3. aprila 1935., a pokopan je u Cimetière du Montparnasse u Parizu.
U Automobilsku kuću slavnih primljen je 1998.