Citroën

"Around the board table, the most important shareholders: a Norman industrialist Marcel Bassot as well as Pierre and Jacques Callies, the sons of Marie Aussedat, the heiress of the papermills of the same name. Divided and hesitant, the directors decide to appeal to the prestigious founder of the French tire industry who has just taken over Citroën with flair."

"In December, Citroën is absorbed purely and simply. And Michelin becomes a shareholder with about ten percent of the Peugeot-Citroën group. François Rollier and Jean-Claude Tournand return to Clermont-Ferrand. This time, definitively, François Michelin cuts ties. The manufacturer no longer carries the automotive burden while remaining Citroën’s exclusive supplier. And for Peugeot, a majority supplier (about sixty percent of its supplies). Michelin can finally concentrate its efforts on what it knows and what it is made for: tires[41](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn41)."

"SINCE the arrival of the socialists in power in France, Michelin has become even more secretive. Roger Quillot, the senator-mayor of Clermont-Ferrand, is at the Ministry of Urban Planning and Housing. Pierre Dreyfus, the former president of Renault — Citroën’s former enemy — is at the Ministry of Industry on Rue de Grenelle. The communist Charles Fiterman, Minister of Transport, intends to favor the SNCF at the expense of road transport. The Communist Party demands to include Michelin on the next list of nationalizable companies. François Michelin, who apparently had little affinity with previous Elysée teams, now resides on his lands, erecting new walls. Last June, before his shareholders, he once again expressed concern about “the gap that often exists between industrial and economic reality and the perception that political circles have of it.” Once again, he went to war against “the scarcity of savings and especially the abusive use of credit, not for the creation of means of production but for financing that is not a source of wealth, such as state deficits, consumer credits, excessive working capital of companies.”"

"Like Edouard, the model, the former Beaux-Arts student spends most of his time with engineers on prototypes or in factories with workers and technicians. To do better, always better, ever better, one must stay ahead, prioritize new ideas, and if necessary, not hesitate to show non-conformism. Boulanger is convinced that Citroën must be the Michelin of the automobile industry. And without vast resources, he will accomplish the impossible mission entrusted to him by “the Boss”: never allow Citroën to be outpaced by another brand[21](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn21)."

"When after the armistice, he undertook to convert at a lightning speed his workshops on the Quai de Javel to make it the most modern automobile factory in Europe, he quickly got in touch with tire manufacturers. And Edouard spared neither his efforts nor his funds to provide him with these special tires and removable steel sheet wheels, lightweight and affordable, required by the Citroën “10 HP type A.” André Citroën completely shared the views of the founder of the Carmes factory and his brother, the Parisian, on the necessity of manufacturing automobiles on a very large scale — thanks to Taylorism in particular — in order to reduce the price and expand its distribution."

"3° The incursion, forced and constrained, into Citroën was only justified insofar as, according to the phrase attributed to François Michelin, “the automobile is just an accessory of the tire.” It only remained possible as long as the Javel firm could grow by its own means and did not hinder tire development. The day it became apparent “as dead weight on its flanks,” Michelin set out to get rid of it."

"Since the ties were broken with Citroën, Michelin has done even better. Although it is no longer the first in France — only the tenth, with its thirty-two and a half billion francs in sales in 1980 — it is preparing to become the first in the world for more than three generations in the industry to which it has devoted itself, body and soul, tires[1](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn1)."

"A flaw remains. Citroën has high-end models that sell well but nothing in the lower range anymore. By the end of October 1935, Pierre Boulanger requests the quick development of “a car capable of carrying two farmers in clogs, fifty kilos of potatoes or a barrel at a maximum speed of sixty kilometers per hour, with a consumption of three liters per hundred kilometers.” Starting all problems from scratch. And achieving an affordable solution: “No more than the price of a motorcycle,” requested Edouard Michelin. So, less than eight thousand francs, a third of the price of the “11 CV”. A pittance (the production cost will never be less than nine thousand five hundred francs). Boulanger limited himself to specifying that “aesthetics were of no importance.”"

"On December 21, Citroën files for bankruptcy, and the commercial court of Paris declares the judicial liquidation. The Lazard Bank, which is the largest creditor among all financial institutions, asks Michelin, the largest creditor among the two thousand four hundred industrial suppliers, to take charge (André Citroën owes eighty-two million to his tire supplier)."

"Technical progress — and God knows the firm will produce many during these years: hydropneumatic suspension, hydraulic gearboxes, power steering, disc brakes, double braking circuit, etc. — must evolve “the very conception of the automobile.” Citroën must be the best in the world. On essential matters. Not on the sidelines."

"“The policy of the Michelin House, which no longer needs to prove itself, is to retain the current models by incorporating all the most modern improvements while maintaining — what the clientele desires — their very economical character and solid qualities. “The customers for a model that is safe, solid, and very manageable will not be lacking. It is to them that the Citroën car is intended, and it is to them that the Michelin company, which today has taken on the responsibility of leading this automotive business, addresses itself with full confidence and the certainty of not being outpaced by any brand.”"

"The philosophy of the House, in any case, is present: a man, alone at first, who can freely pursue his project to the end, a team that enables him to achieve it, a boss who decides to take responsibility and the House’s heritage in a new direction. Michelin will remember this and find in this discovery, which will give birth a few years later to the X radial tire, a new justification for its choices: priority to technology and researchers who must impose their views, flexibility and mobility of the internal organization, the decisive importance of the Patron at the center of the system[28](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn28). And, extraordinary confirmation, the “flytrap” being tested around the Carmes factory on a Citroën Traction that escaped requisition offers road holding superior to all the tires on the market and its resistance to wear is excellent."

"For the first time, Michelin came to Citroën’s rescue in 1931. A few months earlier, in a fit of anger, André Citroën had sent back to their studies, the Lazard bank, the administrators, and directors it had sent him, and especially this André Meyer who exasperated him with his advice of caution and moderation. Much poker but a Pyrrhic victory. Nevertheless, Michelin granted a few tens of millions of francs in cash advances."

"By 1948, the bottlenecks are clearing, and automobile manufacturing resumes its momentum. Citroën that year produces thirty-four thousand one hundred sixty-five cars, surpassing Renault (twenty-nine thousand nine hundred twenty cars), Peugeot (nineteen thousand three hundred ten), Simca (nine thousand nine hundred seventy), and the distant outsiders such as Talbot, Salmson, Panhard, Delahaye, or Ford."

"Indeed, orders poured in. Citroën delivered in drips, after each candidate filled out a detailed questionnaire and accepted a visit from sales inspectors who verified the authenticity of their answers. Boulanger’s strict orders: preference in delivery orders had to be given to farmers, doctors, social workers, sales representatives, country priests, and nuns. Others, the average people, had to wait. Often four years, sometimes more."

"To put an end to these “malevolences,” Michelin puts “the price of honor” on the table: two hundred thirty million francs (thirty billion lire). The amount of investments supported by Fiat as a Citroën shareholder. The operation will be neutral. They will part as good friends."

"Since there is no other solution, Edouard decided to establish a regency and entrusted it to the two men closest to him: his son-in-law Robert Puiseux, and his most faithful lieutenant Pierre Boulanger, whom he sent to restore order at Citroën. Two men who are, moreover, very dissimilar."

"No matter. In April 1933, to take up the challenge posed by Louis Renault, whom Citroën detests and who has just expanded his facilities on the Seguin Island, the French Ford, more confident than ever in his intuitions, goes all-in once again. He decides to demolish Javel and within five months, build the most beautiful car factory on the continent, covering one hundred and twenty thousand square meters."

"Conversely, in the name of these same principles of rigor, Michelin can also push its errors or blind spots to their ultimate consequences. Always knowing in the end — the Citroën affair was the best example — how to behave like a great gentleman, paying the bills and resetting the counters."

"On his turf, most of the work is done. Bibendum, popular and dynamic, reigns supreme. One by one, he managed to convince car manufacturers to pay more for their tires by guaranteeing them, in return, quality and longevity. Michelin is the number 1 at Renault (which stopped tire manufacturing in 1955), at Peugeot, and of course, still one hundred percent at Citroën. Despite its higher prices and imperial commercial methods — you have to comply with its conditions or risk not being delivered[37](private://read/01jkqdqdgs7t399cyecbezrhj0/#ftn_fn37) — it already represents more than half of replacement sales."

"Absolute master of Citroën, Bercot aims high and strives to take different paths. At no cost should cars be made like others. It’s necessary to create a gap, to advance with technological leaps. He holds nothing but contempt for his competitors and especially for those American firms that produce standardized models covered in chrome and barely capable of driving on highways at sixty miles an hour. He aims to release cars that are original and advanced enough for their production to last several decades. “We must fight,” he says, “against this escalation of gadgets and these superfluous modifications that characterize brand industries.”"

"In 1927, he successfully orchestrated the rescue of Citroën."

"Founded in 1848 by two New Orleans cotton merchants originally from Alsace, Lazard Frères was one of several American investment firms with deep southern roots. As the commercial shipping trade moved to San Francisco, Lazard followed. Then at the turn of the century, additional offices were opened in New York, and next in Paris and London. It was the David-Weill family, descendants of the Lazards, who controlled the firm and, wisely, brought Meyer into its Paris branch in 1927. He quickly earned respect in European financial circles for his role in helping to guide Citroën, the French automobile giant, through the depression of the 1930s."

"Buoyed by the success of Bendix, assured of the superiority of the textile production apparatus, confident in the efficiency of the organization he has established, Fayol thinks that the time has come to establish the product’s notoriety with the public—so synonymous with quality that it now deserves to bear the name of its inventor. He is convinced that, like Renault, Citroën, Michelin, the surname Boussac should be associated with his fabric. In 1953, he presents his idea to the great industrialist: — I must speak to you about advertising. Boussac first takes on a closed expression, but he listens to his general manager who continues:"