The Evolution of Citroën: A Look Back at the Cars that Defined a Century

André Citroën founded his automobile company in Paris in 1919, and from the very beginning, he had no interest in building ordinary cars. The company launched its first model, the Type A, the same year it opened its doors — a car that was affordable, reliable, and aimed squarely at working families who had never owned a vehicle before. It was a bold statement of intent. Within just a few years, the Citroën factory was one of the most productive in Europe.

Through the 1920s, Citroën expanded its lineup with the Type B and Type C, keeping prices low while improving quality. These were cars for real people — compact, practical, and easy to maintain. By mid-decade, Citroën models were appearing across France, Germany, and beyond, fitting into everyday life with ease.

As the decade closed, Citroën had begun moving upmarket. The six-cylinder models and cabriolet variants showed that the brand could deliver style alongside value. These larger, more elegant cars attracted a different kind of buyer — one who wanted presence as much as practicality.

The 1930s brought Citroën’s most significant achievement yet. The C4 and C6 models carried the brand into the new decade with confidence, and the C6 in particular became a symbol of French automotive ambition — seen outside grand buildings and on open country roads alike.

Then in 1934 came the car that changed everything. The Traction Avant was the world’s first mass-produced front-wheel drive automobile. It also featured independent suspension and hydraulic brakes — technology that most manufacturers wouldn’t adopt for another decade. The Traction Avant didn’t just sell well; it forced the entire industry to rethink what a modern car could be.

By the late 1930s, the Traction Avant — particularly the 7CV and 11CV variants — was a fixture on French roads and streets across Europe. It was roomy, low-slung, and handled unlike anything else available at the time. Families posed proudly beside it. It appeared in city centres, country lanes, and mountain passes.

World War II halted civilian production. Citroën, like most European manufacturers, redirected its resources toward military needs. When the war ended, the company returned to civilian manufacturing with urgency. Europe needed cheap, dependable transport, and Citroën had an answer ready.

The 2CV — short for deux chevaux, or two horsepower — launched in 1948 and became one of the most recognizable cars in history. It was stripped down to its essentials: a lightweight body, a small air-cooled engine, and a suspension system that could absorb rough rural roads with ease. It was designed so that a farmer could drive eggs across a plowed field without breaking a single one. Across France, and eventually across the world, the 2CV became a symbol of freedom and simplicity.

While the 11 CV Traction Avant remained popular into the early 1950s, Citroën was already engineering something far more ambitious. The 2CV also found its way to American shores, where it puzzled and fascinated observers used to larger, heavier domestic cars.

In 1955, Citroën unveiled the DS at the Paris Motor Show. The crowd’s reaction was immediate — 12,000 orders were placed on the first day. The DS featured a hydropneumatic self-leveling suspension, power steering, power brakes, and a streamlined body shaped by aerodynamics rather than convention. Nothing else on the road looked or felt like it. Roland Barthes, the French philosopher, described the DS as the equivalent of a great Gothic cathedral — a creation of an entire era.

The DS quickly attracted attention far beyond everyday drivers. Politicians, royalty, and celebrities were photographed alongside it. The car carried France’s Prime Minister Guy Mollet on official visits, and King Bhumibol of Thailand rode in a Citroën Traction Avant during a state visit to France. The DS appeared in Motor Trend’s road tests, and American audiences got their first look at a car that seemed to belong to a different decade entirely.

The DS also entered popular culture. Singer Paul Anka was photographed stepping into one outside the Olympia music hall in Paris in 1958. Jerry Lewis stretched out on the hood of a black DS on Place Vendôme in 1965, writing a fake parking ticket. The car was everywhere — in films, on rally stages, and in the daily lives of French families.

The DS remained in production through the 1960s and into the 1970s, continuously refined and updated. Meanwhile, a more affordable variant — the ID 19 — brought the same revolutionary suspension to buyers who couldn’t stretch to the full DS. On the production line in 1960, both models rolled off the same factory floor, a testament to Citroën’s manufacturing scale.

The Traction Avant also cemented its place in television history when it served as the car of fictional detective Inspector Maigret in the popular BBC series. Its association with a certain kind of European sophistication — unhurried, intelligent, slightly mysterious — made it a natural fit for the role.

Through the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Citroën expanded its range with the Ami and the GS. The Ami targeted buyers who wanted the comfort of a family car without the DS price tag. The GS, introduced in 1970, brought hydropneumatic suspension to a mid-range model for the first time. Then came the CX in 1974 — a car with a drag coefficient so low it was barely believable for the era, paired with self-leveling suspension and an optional diesel engine.

The 2CV remained in production all the way until 1990, and in its final years it found a new audience as a rally car and a pop culture icon. Roger Moore promoted the James Bond film “For Your Eyes Only” alongside a 2CV on Vendôme Plaza in Paris — a car that had gone from peasant transport to international symbol in just three decades.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Citroën produced the Visa, BX, and Xantia — each one carrying forward the brand’s commitment to suspension technology and practical design. The BX used plastic body panels to cut weight. The Xantia’s Active suspension could actively counteract body roll in corners. In the 2000s, the C3 and C4 broadened Citroën’s reach into the mainstream compact car market, appealing to buyers across Europe. In 2010, Citroën merged with Peugeot to form PSA Peugeot Citroën, bringing two of France’s most storied automotive brands under one roof.