Citroën Traction Avant History

The Citroën Traction Avant — French for 'front-wheel drive' — entered volume production on 19 April 1934, immediately establishing itself as the world's first mass-produced car combining a unitary body, front-wheel drive, and four-wheel independent suspension. Designed by André Lefèbvre and styled by Flaminio Bertoni, it used around 100 patents and was so far ahead of its time that it nearly bankrupted Citroën in its first year; Michelin had to acquire the company to see the project through.

Over its 23-year run the Traction Avant was produced as a four-door saloon, a long-wheelbase Familiale (six or seven seats), a Commerciale estate/wagon, and a rare cabriolet. The flagship six-cylinder '15-Six' variant added a hydropneumatic rear suspension unit in 1954 — the first time that technology appeared on a Citroën, presaging the DS. Approximately 760,000 were built across plants in France, Belgium, the UK, and Germany.

Production ended in July 1957, directly after the Citroën DS — the Traction Avant's even more radical successor — went on sale. The car's influence was profound: its layout of a transverse front engine driving the front wheels through a unitary bodyshell is the architecture used by nearly every European small car made since.