When simple design becomes trendsetting
In 1948, at the Paris Salon show, the automotive world was thrown on its ear as what was to become one of the world's most iconic, best-selling, and longest-running production cars was debuted. At the time, of course, no one knew any of this and just saw a really odd, aesthetically questionable car being unveiled at a car show by a company that had just gone through the financial equivalent of the death and rebirth of today's Detroit giants after the bailouts.
That car was a design aimed at one very specific goal and it made that goal so well that it brought innovations that changed automotive for decades to come. It's goal was not to be pretty, nor to be fast, nor powerful, or even luxurious. Those are common goals for auto design and common goals rarely produce uncommon results. Instead, the singular goal that the newly-hatched Citroën had for its new design was this: get French farmers to finally give up their horse and buggies and buy a car instead.
