Citroën, André-Gustave

Citroën, André-Gustave

▪ French engineer

born Feb. 5, 1878, Paris, France
died July 3, 1935, Paris
 French engineer and industrialist who introduced Henry Ford's methods of mass production to the European automobile industry.

      Citroën graduated from the École Polytechnique in 1898 and thereafter worked as an engineer and an industrial designer. In 1908 he helped the Mors automobile firm increase its production from 125 cars to 1,200 cars per year. At the outbreak of World War I Citroën persuaded the French army of the need to mass-produce munitions. In 1915 he built a munitions plant whose production of shells reached 55,000 per day. Upon this success he was given the responsibility of organizing the supplying of all French munitions plants with certain vital raw materials. After the war Citroën converted his original arms factory into a plant to mass-produce a small, inexpensive automobile; the first Citroën car came off the assembly line in 1919. New Citroën factories were constructed, and his firm became one of the largest auto-manufacturing companies in France. Refusing to retrench during the Great Depression, Citroën introduced the only popular front-wheel-drive car of its time, the Citroën Seven (1934), but he lost control of his company after it went bankrupt in 1934 and was reorganized in 1935.

      Citroën financed various scientific expeditions, including one that traveled 8,000 miles (13,000 km) by car from Beirut to Peking (1931–32). The lighting of the Arc de Triomphe and of the Place de la Concorde were gifts from Citroën to the city of Paris.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • CITROËN, ANDRÉ GUSTAVE — (1878–1935), French engineer and industrialist. Citroën was born and educated in Paris; his early talent for business and organization manifested itself in the successful exploitation of patents particularly related to automobile transmissions in …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • Citroen, André Gustave — (1878 1935)    French engineer. Born in Paris, he became responsible for the Mors automobile company. After the war, he converted his munitions plant into an automobile manufacturing company …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • André Gustave Citroën — André Citroën André Citroën Portrait de André Citroën Naissance 5 février 1878 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Andre Citroen — André Citroën André Citroën Portrait de André Citroën Naissance 5 février 1878 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • André Citroen — André Citroën André Citroën Portrait de André Citroën Naissance 5 février 1878 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • André Citroën — Portrait de André Citroën Naissance 5 février 1878 Paris …   Wikipédia en Français

  • André Citroën — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda André Citroën Nacimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • Citroën — ▪ French automobile manufacturer       major French automobile manufacturer, the founder of which, André Gustave Citroën (Citroën, André Gustave), introduced mass production methods to the French auto industry. In 1976 the firm became a unit of… …   Universalium

  • André Citroën — (* 5. Februar 1878 in Paris; † 3. Juli 1935 ebenda) war ein französischer Automobilkonstrukteur. Leben André Gustave Citroën war das fünfte Kind von Masza Amalia Kleinmann aus Warschau und Levie Citroë …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • André Citroën — André Gustave Citroën (5 February 1878 3 July 1935) was a French entrepreneur of Dutch and Polish descent. He is remembered chiefly for the make of car named after him, but also for his application of double helical gears.André Gustave was the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”