Citroën 2CV: Encyclopedia II - Citroën 2CV - History

Citroën 2CV - History

Pierre Boulanger's early 1930s design brief - said by some to be astonishingly radical for the time - was for a low-priced, rugged "umbrella on four wheels" that would enable two peasants to drive 100 kg of farm goods to market at 60 km/h, in clogs and across muddy unpaved roads if necessary. It would use no more than 3 litres of gasoline to travel 100 km. Most famously, it would be able to drive across a ploughed field without breaking the eggs it was carrying. Boulanger later also had the roof raised to allow him to drive while wearing a hat.

André Lefebvre was the engineer in charge of the TPV project. By 1939 the TPV (Toute Petite Voiture - "Very Small Car") was deemed ready and several prototypes had been built. Those prototypes made heavy use of aluminium parts and had water-cooled engine. The seats were hammocks suspended from the roof by wires.

During the German occupation of France during World War II, Michelin (Citroën's main shareholder) and Citroën managers decided to hide the TPV project from the Nazis, fearing some military application. Several TPVs were buried at secret locations, one was disguised as a pickup, and the others were destroyed, and Boulanger had the next six years to think about more improvements. Until 1994, when three TPVs where discovered in a barn, it was believed that only two prototypes had survived. As of 2003, five TPVs are known. For long it was believed that the project was so well hidden that the all the prototypes were lost at the end of the War. (In fact it seems that none of the hidden TPVs was lost after the War, but in the 1950s an internal memo ordered them to be scrapped. The surviving TPVs were, in fact, hidden from the top management by some workers who were sensitive to their historical value.)

After the War, internal reports at Citroën showed that producing the TPV would not be economically viable, given the rising cost of aluminium in the post-war economy. A decision was made to replace most of the aluminium parts with steel parts. Other changes were made, the most notable being an air-cooled engine, new seats and a restyling of the body by Flaminio Bertoni. It took three years for Citroën to rework the TPV and the car was nicknamed "Toujours Pas Vue" (Still Not Seen) by the press.

Citroën finally unveiled the car at the Paris Salon in 1948. It was laughed at by the journalists, probably because Citroën had launched the car without any press advertising. Boris Vian described the car as an "aberration roulante" (rolling aberration) and the car was qualified as a "Spartan car" by many. History has confirmed that the car was charming in a lot of people's views, and a revolution in consumer transportation, at least on the French market.

The 2CV was a great commercial success: within months of it going on sale, there was a three-year waiting list. Production was increased from four units per day in 1949 to 400 units per day in 1950. Some of the early models were built at Citroën's plant in Slough, England. A coupé version was even produced briefly, called the Bijou, and 1961 Citroën built a new car based on the 2CV, the Citroën Dyane, in response to the direct competition by the Renault 4.

A rare jeep-looking derivate, called the Yagán, after an aborigin tribe, was made in Chile between 1972 and 1973. After September 11th, there was 200 Yagán left, that were used by the Army to patrol the streets and the Peruvian border, with 106mm cannons.

The 2CV was mainly sold in France and some European markets. The conservative management of Michelin was focusing on return on investment, and would never make the production and marketing required to develop export sales on a world scale. Consequently, it suffered a similar fate to the Morris Minor, and a very different one to the Volkswagen Beetle, which was sold worldwide. Only a few thousand 2CVs were sold outside Europe, partly due to the limited popularity of small cars in general in North America.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki