The first Citroën

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For the benefit of memory loss sufferers and hermits emerging into society for the first time, 2019 marks the 100^th anniversary of Citroën. What better excuse could there be, then, to go for a spin in the marque’s first model, the Type A? What intelligent curiosities of design did André Citroën’s restless mind toil over in 1919?

As it turned out, the idiosyncratic left-field thinking with which Citroën would come to be associated was a few years away yet, and the Type A was perfectly conventional by the standards of the day. We can forgive this, though, since convention is a wise consideration for any fledgeling business and Citroën may never had taken more than a few faltering steps into car manufacturing had he been too radical at the start, evidence of which might be seen in the relatively forgotten Voisin C1, which was based on an early Citroën design.

Instead, the Type A was a remarkable car not so much for what it was, but for what it did. Inspired by a visit to the Ford assembly line in 1912, Citroën’s first intention was to create a car for the French everyman and conquer the mass market. The first chapter of the Citroën success story is told in the November edition of The Automobile, on sale now.

Photographs by Tony Baker.

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