Citroën S.A. Annual Report — 1972 financial year, general meeting of 27 June 1973

In this document

This document is the Citroën S.A. annual report — a holding company grouping together Automobiles Citroën, Berliet and Panhard — presented to the ordinary general meeting of 27 June 1973, regarding the 1972 financial year.

The board and the economic context

The board of directors is chaired by François Rollier, with Pierre Bercot as honorary chairman p. 36. The report opens with a macroeconomic overview: growth of the French GDP by 5.8%, national automotive production up by 10.56% to 3,328,320 vehicles p. 37.

Group results

Société Anonyme Automobiles Citroën produced 736,551 vehicles in 1972 (+11.1%), for a turnover of F 6.43 billion (+12.2%) and a net profit of F 257 million p. 37-38, 45. Mentioned are the release of the GS 1220 (61 hp), the improvement of the D range, the replacement of the SM carburetor with electronic injection, and the appearance of the Ami Super at the end of the year p. 43-44.

Berliet, on the other hand, suffered a loss of F 30.9 million, penalized by strikes and the halt of exports to China and Cuba p. 46-47. Panhard (S.C.M.P.L.) is in deficit by F 5.6 million due to exchange losses linked to the dollar p. 47.

Subsidiaries and international cooperation

The report details foreign subsidiaries (Belgium, Spain, Argentina, Chile, Portugal, Italy/Maserati, Iran, Vietnam) and new agreements in Yugoslavia, South Africa and Tunisia p. 50-53.

Key point: the end of the Citroën-Fiat industrial association, as Fiat wished for a "deeper integration" deemed risky for "vital elements of Citroën" p. 54. In parallel, the cooperation with Audi NSU continues via Comotor, whose Altforweiler factory produces the first rotary piston engines of a "new generation", heirs to the tests carried out on the M35 prototypes p. 54-55.

Key figures

The report finally announces the construction of the new Aulnay-sous-Bois factory (first cars produced at the end of April 1973) and the future Charleville foundry p. 56.

Context

Historically, the beginning of the 1970s was a pivotal period for Citroën: financial recovery after the difficulties of the late 1960s, development of the rotary engine via Comotor (the fruit of which would be the Citroën GS Birotor, marketed in 1973-1974), and definitive break with Fiat which foreshadows the merger, a few years later, with Peugeot (PSA, 1976). The SM, the group's technological showcase, then embodied the alliance of hydropneumatic suspension and the Maserati engine.

Archivist's perspective

This financial and industrial report never mentions Paul Magès nor the hydropneumatic suspension by name — it falls under a managerial, not technical, register. Its interest for the Magès collection is therefore contextual: it sheds light on the exact industrial environment (production, subsidiaries, Fiat tensions, rotary engine development) in which the engineer was working in the spring-summer of 1973.

This period coincides precisely with several handwritten notes by Magès on passive safety and kinetic energy, such as "Method for not breaking eggs" (24 March 1973) or "Passive safety — The motorist and the technician" (25 April 1973), written a few weeks before this general meeting.

It is probable that this document was kept by Magès simply for information on the life of the company, rather than for direct work use.