History of the citadine

A whole development led up to the manufacturing of compact French cars in the nineteen seventies and eighties. Short history of the origins of the citadine.

In the beginning

After the car had firmly made its entrance as a means of conveyance at the end of the nineteenth century, it took a while before the new phenomenon evolved form a toy for the rich into a practical means of transport for a larger group of people. It was the American car industry - and in particular Henry Ford with his Model T (right) that made the car very popular. With the Model T Ford developed a car which excelled in simplicity and usefulness. As a result of mass production the Model T was relatively inexpensive, which brought owning a car within the reach of the American labourers. Therefore the Model T can be regarded as the first "car for the people". During the production period of the Model T (1908-1927) more than 15 million cars were sold.

Kraft durch Freude

The next milestone in the development of small cars is without doubt the Volkswagen Typ 1, better known as the "Beetle". The principle of this car, developed by Ferdinand Porsche on the basis of an idea of the Austrian Béla Barénvi, showed some very unusual and characteristic features. The most striking element was the air-cooled engine at the back. Although the Beetle was developed long before World War 2, the project would probably never have been completed if it had not been given support on the basis of Adolf Hitler's philosophy of 'Kraft durch Freude', but real mass production only started after 1945. In the course of time the car broke all production records, which was partly due to the exceptionally long period during which it was built. Until the final production stop in Mexico in 2003, 21.5 million cars were built.

A car for the French countryside

The cry for cheap means of transport and the fact that German Volkswagen supplied in that need, was an enormous source of inspiration for other European car manufacturers. With the French farmer in mind Citroën developed the 2CV shortly before World War 2 (see a prototype on the right) and after the war this car would become a craze as a production model (far right). Technically the 2CV - with its very advanced front-wheel-drive - was very unlike the Beetle.

The Volkswagen by Renault

On the other hand the Renault 4CV with its engine at the back - which was presented shortly after the war - was technically more like the Volkswagen. After the 4CV Renault kept producing cars with the engine at the back such as the Dauphine and the R8/R10-series, until the early seventies when other competitors had all but given up manufacturing this type of car.

Fiat and the small car

Renault was not the only car manufacturer adhering to the principles of Volkswagen: Fiat - which had always been known for manufacturing all types of small cars - produced its smallest models with the engine at the back, such as the 600 (right) which remained extremely popular for many decades.

A new milestone

The introduction of the Mini in 1959 marked a real turning point in the development of the small car. The Mini was revolutionary because of its engine, which was placed horizontally, in combination with front-wheel-drive. These features meant the car was years ahead of the competition with regard to space-efficiency. Apart from creating more space this construction method also divided weight better which led to better handling than cars with engines at the back. Many manufacturers, however, considered this modern technique as quite risky. Not until the seventies did many other car manufacturers follow the revolutionary Mini-concept. This makes the Mini one of the classic forefathers of the citadine from the seventies and eighties. The Mini itself remained in production for an exceptionally long period: production of the model was only stopped in 2000.

Modern Renaults

A modern small car which was introduced shortly after the Mini was the Renault R4 (left) from 1961. The R4 was not so much a direct response to the British newcomer, but more a response to the Citroën 2CV. With its many uses the quite unorthodox R4 was clearly the first of many three- and five-door models to become so popular in the seventies. In the next few years Renault produced more models with a big hatch back, for instance the R16 from 1965 and the R6 from 1969 (right).

The alternative way

The French competitors came up with different responses to the popular R4. Citroën introduced the Ami 6 and Ami 8, models that were reasonably successful on the home market despite their individualism. For a long time Simca relied on its archaic 1000 with the engine at the back, a car that was interesting for a large group of motorists mainly because it was low priced.

Birth of the supermini

The seventies were characterized by the large scale production and popularity of small front-wheel-drive, three-door town cars, built on the basis of the technique introduced in the Mini. The Fiat 127, introduced in 1971, became a sensational success. Two succeeding versions of this car are depicted here. Before Fiat took the risk of introducing the 127, the company presented a car that could be considered as a trial version of the 127, namely the Autobianchi A1 12 from 1969 (far left). Probably this car was the first representative of its kind, which was called "Supermini" by the English and "citadine" by the French.

Neue Welle

The German car manufacturers did not react to the shifts in trends in the production of small cars until a couple of years later. Volkswagen, which almost went down in the early seventies because it refused to give up outdated principles, made a terrific come-back with the Golf. This car set new standards regarding quality and durability and became the market leader in many European countries.

Elle s'appelle Hélène

Citroën was absorbed by Peugeot in 1976 and became part of the PSA-concern. The first Citroën car to be developed in the new organisation was the LN (left) from the same year.
No matter how sweet the LN may look today, the reactions from press and public to this mix of Peugeot and Citroën parts were mainly negative. After modifications to the car in 1981 the LNA gradually became a little more popular.

Vive la Visa

The Visa from 1978 (far left) was given a much warmer welcome than the LN, yet sales did not come up to expectations during the first few years. When the Visa II (left) was introduced in 1981 this type became a big success.

An old name lives on……for a short while

Simca came with the Horizon (right) to replace the familiar 1100. Under its new skin this was technically speaking more or less the same old Simca 1100 and the Horizon never became a hit. After PSA had also taken over Simca from Chrysler, the Simca's lived on under the new name of Talbot. As a result of disappointing sales only few new models were introduced in the next few years. In 1982 the Talbot Samba (far right) was introduced, a car which - like the Citroën LN/LNA and the Visa - was modelled after the Peugeot 104. Sales of Talbots kept dropping which made PSA decide to put an end to production altogether in 1986.

Een nieuwe generatie

A new generation
Time moved on and the French car makers developed successors for their super minis from the seventies. In 1983 Peugeot introduced the 205 (left). Renault developed a new 5, which was presented as Supercinq (right) in 1984.

A broad segment

The French were not the only ones to produce cars for the market of small town and family cars. Competition for this piece of the market was fierce. Amongst the cars that the citadines of PSA and Renault had to compete with were:

The nineties

The citadines from the eighties were all replaced by more modern successors in the next decade. In many cases more modern also meant less characteristic. Gradually the the Peugeot 205 and the Citroën AX were replaced by the 106 and the Saxo (right) respectively. Both cars were identical in many respects. Renault introduced the Clio and the Twingo (far right) which is still a rather unorthodox model.

A French car from Kolin

The 21st century has seen further globalisation in the segment of small cars. For instance, under the skin the Peugeot 107 and the Citroën C1 are similar to the Toyota Aygo and production of these cars does not take place in France but in Czechia. These are different times. And even though the new minis and superminis are in many respects far better than their predecessors form the seventies and eighties, at the same time they also offer less charm.