Description
By: John Reynolds .
Although Citroen cars are enjoying record sales worldwide, the company's popularity nowadays lies largely among a new generation of motorists who have never owned a Citroen before and are unlikely to know about the marque's distinguished heritage and long tradition of engineering excellence and innovation. For new and old devotees alike, this book provides the ideal guide.
Throughout its 85-year history Citroen has been a driving force in the evolution of automobile design and construction. The revolution really began in 1934, when Citroen introduced the Traction Avant, the world's first mass-produced front-wheel-drive car.
During the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, Citroen was renowned as the largest and most technically advanced car manufacturer in Europe. It pioneered a succession of important concepts that transformed the development of the popular family car, including all-steel bodies, unitary monocoque construction, hydraulic brakes, rack and pinion steering and hydropneumatic suspension.
Citroen: Daring to be different traces the fortunes of the firm, from its origins to the present day, examining the changes that have occurred under its three owners, Andre Citroen, Michelin and PSA Peugeot-Citroen. It details individualistic products such as the 2CV, the CitroenMaserati SM and the incomparable DS19, voted Industrial Product of the Century. Citroen's other influential (though less well-appreciated) designs such as the Type H vans and the GS/GSA and CX series saloons are also celebrated. The text is supported with driving impressions, technical specifications, buying hints and features on subjects as diverse as de Gaulle's Presidential DS19, the surviving pre-war 2CV prototypes, the British- designed and built 2CV Bijou, and the experimental rotary-engined M35 coupe.
John Reynolds, a Citroen expert, has been writing about the marque and its models for more than 20 years, and has owned and driven Citroens for a lot longer than that.
