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8 CV, "Rosalie des records"
The Company in 1933
- The worldwide economic crisis has a serious effect on the French motor industry and production falls. But André Citroën sticks to his principles - raise production to cut costs - and sets his sights on the future. Projects include a production rate of 1,000 vehicles a day and the launch of a new front-wheel drive ("Traction Avant") model developed by André Lefebvre and his team in the design department.
The Quai de Javel plant has to be demolished and rebuilt in the space of five months. While work is in progress, the factory continues to produce 360 vehicles a day.
- Annual production : 71 472 vehicles.
The models in 1933
- March sees the appearance of the 15 GL, a better equipped version of the 15, available in saloon and family versions.
- March also sees a new speed record. The 8 bhp "Petite Rosalie" - equipped with a special body - beats the world distance record at the Montlhéry autodrome, covering 300,000 kilometres at an average speed of 93 km/h.
- In September, the Type 29 and 45 trucks replace the C6.1: normal, long or low chassis. The 29 offers a 2,650 cm3 6-cylinder engine developing 53 bhp, a payload of 2,900 kg and a total weight of 4,900 kg. It is also built in bus form.
The design of the Type 45 engine is original rather than being based on a car power unit. A 6-cylinder 4,580 cm3 model developing 73 bhp, it has a payload of 4,500 kg, and a total laden weight of 7,600 kg.
In the first six months of the year, almost 40% of the utility vehicles registered in France are Citroëns.
The world in 1933
- In the USA, Roosevelt is elected to the presidency and introduces the New Deal to combat the ravages of the Great Depres-sion.
- Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. The Nazis burn the Reichstag. Germany walks out of the League of Nations. The great purges begin in the USSR.
- In France, the Stavisky corruption affair causes a ministerial crisis.
- André Malraux publishes Man's Fate, Federico García Lorca writes Blood Wedding and Jean Giraudoux brings out Intermezzo.
- The Boeing 247, the first plane designed to carry passengers, makes its first commercial flight.