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In deciding what article, to write about I wanted to pick a car and/or company that had achieved a recent milestone. From
reading recent news articles I found out that I had two choices, the first being Citroën turning 90 years old, or celebrating
10 years of the BMW X5! It is fair to say that 10 years is a remarkable achievement, but lets be honest the X5 is no where
near as exciting as some of the cars that Citroën has produced in the past 90 years.
Citroën was founded in 1919 by André Citroën and became the world's first mass-produced car company outside of the USA. Citroën
(now part of PSA Peugeot Citroën), has produced some amazing cars in it's history, such as the Traction Avant, 2CV, DS and SM
and despite gaining a reputation for producing relatively mudane cars in the 1990s, Citroen has returned to producing innovative
cars, such as the C4, C6 and GTbyCitroen.
Citroen has had a colourful history and there is clearly too much to mention everything, but some interesting points include a 2CV starring in a James Bond film
(For Your Eyes Only) which caused a rush on sales of the 2CV. The Citroen SM won the (USA) Motor Trend Car of the Year 1972, also
with the Citroen GS, CX and XM also winning the European Car of the Year awards in 1971, 1975 and 1990. Citroen has also won many
awards in the World Rally Champsionship, winning the Constructors' title in 2003, 2004, 2004 and 2008, as well as not forgetting
that Citroen advertised themselves on the Eiffel Tower between 1925 and 1934, making it one of the tallest advertising space at the time.
In the UK, Citroen is celebrating their 90 years by launching a special edition of the Citroen C3 Picasso, although I just wanted to
look at the Citroen's that have been made in small scale. As you are probably aware, due to Citroen's popularity through out the world
many models have made their way into small scale, helped by the two French diecast manufacturers Majorette and Norev. The classic Citroens
are available by a number of manufacturings, including the 2CV, DS and Traction Avant, and some of the late 80s/90s Citroens have been
produced by Majorette and Siku, including the AX, BX, Xantia and XM. The more recent Citroen's are currently being produced Majorette and
Norev, with Norev producing the entire range. Also Hot Wheels have announced that they are going to produce a C4 rally car for 2010.
So I would like to end by saying congratulations to Citroen for reaching just an amazing milestone and I hope they continue to produce
their innovate cars and that they keep on finding their way into small scale.
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