The French car industry is one of the most powerful in Europe. It is mainly characterized from the three great and wellknown car companies: Renault, Peugeot and Citroen.
Renault: The firm was founded in 1898 by Louis Renault, has been named from the founder and manufactured 6 cars that year. Later on, production rose to 179 cars in 1900 and to 1500 in 1905, due to a contract according to which Renault was supplying Parisian taxis. The production shifted to 24,000 cars in 1924 as Louis Renault adopted specific know-how from Henry Ford. Renault always used to manufacture cars of all kinds and categories, however during the Second World War, similarly to other car companies, turned to the construction of military vehicles.
After the war, Renault passed into the hands of the French government and this was a start of remarkable improvement: in 1981 Renault was the first car maker in Europe in terms of sales.
PSA Group: Joined by Peugeot and Citroen, the PSA Group is one of the largest car makers in Europe nowadays. It stems from the acquisition of Citroen by Peugeot in 1976. Both companies have a long history of about 100 years. However, due to the high competition of 1990’s in the car market, the cost sharing became much greater. The component and platform sharing led to the loss of their particular individuality, especially for Citroen, “renowned for its unique models”.
Peugeot: The Peugeot family having established from the early 19th century a company producing several industrial products, turned in 1890 in the manufacture of motor cars. Armand Peugeot was inspired by Gottlieb Daimler’s motor engine. In the next year Peugeot created its own engine. Its growth was continued steadily until the Second World War.
After the Second World War, Peugeot underwent a massive expansion, became Peugeot S.A. (PSA), a holding company controlling several others. In 1976 acquired Citroen.
Citroen: “In contrast to Peugeot, Citroen used to be the focus of World’s car lovers”. It was established by Andre Citroen, who had been rich from selling military goods during the First World War. It’s first model, the Type A one, launched in 1919, it has been the first car of mass production in Europe. Citroen became the second larger car maker in the world at that time and this is was to innovative and unique technologies it was using.
Citroen was significantly affected by the crisis of 1930’s. In 1934 Andre Citroen sold the company to the tyre-maker Michelin. Citroen’s models had been unique in 1980’s. In 1976 it was purchased by PSA (Peugeot).