Andre Citroen founded the company he named after himself, "Citroen", in 1919. The French company became the first mass automaker outside of America to have any mass market success, with simple designs which served the growing automobile market well. Also credited with the production of the worlds ever first front wheel drive car, the Citroen Traction Avant in 1934, Citroen has been a front leader in innovative and uncommon designs, although remaining efficient in producing mass market cars which sold well. The French based company, innovative in itself for being the first European mass market car manufacture, was later formed into the PSA Peugeot Citroen group, which has its headquarters in Paris.
It was common for automobile manufactures to switch production from cars to military hardware for the campaign in World War One, often switching back to automobile production after the world war had ceased. Andre Citroens story is slightly different, however; with the Frenchmen deciding to build cars post World War One, after he had no use for his factory after the war. Citroen, the man not the company, originally built military wear for France during the World War, but found himself with no business after the war had finished. With a factory in his possession, Citroen began to produce cars, with the newly designed (by Le Zebre) type A. The type A was the first production car by Citroen, and within its two year production life had outputted over twenty four thousand units. Originally selling for close to eight thousand francs, the price was lifted to twelve and a half thousand francs just one year later. With the number of units being produced, around one hundred per day, Citroen had established itself as the first European mass market car manufacture.
