Citroen Car Parts

About Citroen

André Citroën founded Citroën in 1919 and the first car that it introduced to customers was the 10HP 'Type A'. In 1923 a Citroën car, a Citroën SCV Type C Torpedo, was the first car to drive around Australia, the driver was Neville Westwood from Perth. The car has now been fully restored and can be seen in the National Museum of Australia.

1924 saw Citroën go into business with Edward G. Budd, an American engineer. His role was to design the steel bodies of the cars and in 1924 at the Paris Motor Show they revealed the Citroën B10, which was the first car with an all-steel body, this was the first of its kind in Europe. This led to the production in 1933 of the first commercial passenger car with a diesel engine.

Citroën then went on to develop in 1934 the Traction Avant which was revolutionary at the time as one of its many new features was front wheel drive. However despite its success the company went into financial ruin in December 1934 and fortunately Michelin became the company's main shareholder. They then continued to make the Traction Avant with Pierre Michelin becoming the chairman of Citroën. Sadly André Citroën died from stomach cancer in 1935. In 1948 Citroën unveiled its new 2CV car which had four-wheel drive at the Paris Salon and it instantly became a bestseller and remained in production until 1990.

In 1955 Citroen introduced the DS, which was the first car to use their revolutionary hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension system. The car also had power breaks and power steering and from 1968 was made with directional headlights. They then went on to produce cars with a high-pressure hydraulic system which included the SM, GS, CX, BX, XM, Xantia, C5, and C6.

Citroën pioneered aerodynamic automobile design and this improved the cars high speed performance and reduced fuel consumption. In the 1950s they used a wind tunnel which helped them to develop their now famous streamlined cars. In 1953 Citroën took over control of Panhard, a French car maker and in 1968 they started to distribute globally under the new company name Citroën SA. That same year saw Citroën purchased Maserati and they launched the SM, which had a V6 Maserati engine and a powered steering system called DIRAVI.

Citroën however suffered a financial blow in 1973 and had to withdraw from North America in 1974. They suffered huge losses mainly due to not producing a middle-range profitable car during the 1960s and had ploughed too much of their budget into its new Maserati developments. In June 1973 Citroën and Fiat separated and a year later Citroën announced their partnership with Peugeot. They then sold Maserati to De Tomaso, an Italian firm in 1975.

In the late 1970s, Citroen developed a small car for the Romanian market known as the Oltcit, which was also sold in Western Europe and branded as the Citroën Axel. The Peugeot and Citroën venture (PSA) was successful and they produced the GS and CX which was a new Citroën 2CV.

During the 1980s, Citroën cars became more Peugeot-based and in 1982 the launch of the BX used the revolutionary hydro-pneumatic suspension of a Citroën but was powered by a Peugeot engine. In 1984 Citroën started to sell family cars in China including the C3 and Xsara as well as the local Fukang and Elysée. Citroën cars are sold globally except in North America. Citroën introduced the C3 Pluriel, a convertible, in 2003 and the C4 was launched in 2004 and is still in production today.