Citroën Type A on:
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The
The driver sits inside the car's cabin in front of the passengers (though maybe separated from their conversations by a glass partition). The contrast is with earlier carriages and carriage based car designs which placed the passengers inside while the driver sat at the front, unprotected from the weather, driving the car as twenty years earlier he had driven the horses. Many French phrases, including "Conduite Intérieure", were still being extensively used in the car world in Britain in the 1920s, reflecting France's leading role as an automobile producer during the first decade of the twentieth century.
The
In its first year of production, the standard Type A cost 7,950 francs. One year later the selling price had increased to 12,500 francs.
After a slightly hesitant start in 1919, sales took off in 1920, during which more than 20,000 cars emerged from the factory in a single year. With a production rate of 100 vehicles a day, Citroën became the first mass production manufacturer in Europe.
Citroën 10 HP Type A - Citroën Origins
* {{Vintage-auto-stub 1920s cars
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...
Type A was produced from June 1919 to December 1921 in Paris, France. It was the first car Citroën made. 24,093 were built.
Origins
DuringWorld War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, André Citroën was producing ammunition. As early as 1917, Citroën investigated the development of a light car of the medium range, under the direction of Jules Salomon.
The car
Under the designation ''10 HP Type A'' the car had awater-cooled
Cooling tower and water discharge of a nuclear power plant
Water cooling is a method of heat removal from components and industrial equipment. Evaporative cooling using water is often more efficient than air cooling. Water is inexpensive and n ...
1327 cc four-cylinder engine and an output of . Its maximum speed was 65 km/h (40 mph). The chassis had inverted quarter elliptic springs at the front and double quarter elliptics at the rear. Braking was on the rear wheels only controlled by a hand lever with a foot pedal operated transmission brake.
The chassis was made in two lengths and could carry a variety of coachwork. The long chassis was available as Torpedo (four-seat tourer), Torpedo Sport, Conduite Intérieure,Conduite Intérieure = carrosserie entièrement fermée - ie saloon/sedan car body. The driver sits inside the car's cabin in front of the passengers (though maybe separated from their conversations by a glass partition). The contrast is with earlier carriages and carriage based car designs which placed the passengers inside while the driver sat at the front, unprotected from the weather, driving the car as twenty years earlier he had driven the horses. Many French phrases, including "Conduite Intérieure", were still being extensively used in the car world in Britain in the 1920s, reflecting France's leading role as an automobile producer during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Coupé de ville
Coupé de ville — also known as town car or sedanca de ville — is a car body style produced from 1908 to 1939 with an external or open-topped driver's position and an enclosed compartment for passengers. Although the different terms may ha ...
and light truck and the short chassis with Torpedo (3-seat), Conduite Intérieure, Coupé de Ville and camionette (van). The shorter wheelbase chassis was available only on demand until the start of 1920 after which the option was withdrawn in order to maximize standardization and derive the resulting cost and efficiency benefits.
The final drive
A drivetrain (also frequently spelled as drive train or sometimes drive-train) is the group of components that deliver mechanical power from the prime mover to the driven components. In automotive engineering, the drivetrain is the components o ...
used a bevel gear
Bevel gears are gears where the axes of the two shafts intersect and the tooth-bearing faces of the gears themselves are conically shaped. Bevel gears are most often mounted on shafts that are 90 degrees apart, but can be designed to work at othe ...
with herringbone teeth, whose shape was the inspiration for the Citroën double chevron logo.
Commercial
In its first year of production, the standard Type A cost 7,950 francs. One year later the selling price had increased to 12,500 francs.
After a slightly hesitant start in 1919, sales took off in 1920, during which more than 20,000 cars emerged from the factory in a single year. With a production rate of 100 vehicles a day, Citroën became the first mass production manufacturer in Europe.
Notes
Further reading
*André Citroën -The man and the motor car. John Reynoolds. Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire, UK. 1996. Type A First car made by manufacturer Cars introduced in 1919Citroën 10 HP Type A - Citroën Origins
* {{Vintage-auto-stub 1920s cars