DS and ID cost price improvement programme — meeting of 9 September 1957

Internal report from Citroën Technical Methods listing six modifications included in Paul Magès' programme to reduce the manufacturing cost of DS and ID models, with quantified gains and handwritten follow-up.

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Understanding this document

In this document

This is an internal report from the Citroën Technical Methods department, written by Mr. Caneau for Mr. Cadiou (copy to Mr. Louis), dated 10-09-57 p. 3. The document reports on the meeting of Monday 9 September 1957 attended by Messrs. Caneau, Chalus, Gravier, Guyetant, Lefèvre, Louis, Magès and De Sablet, held to establish a "cost price improvement programme for DS and IDTT vehicles" p. 3.

The six modifications included in Magès' programme

The table lists six improvements, with the gains quantified in relation to the 1-2-57 balance sheets, expressed in francs according to the DC, IDC, IDP and ID versions:

Improvement	DC	IDC	IDP	ID
1. HP pump spacer D391-90 in sintered iron	203	–	–	–
2. Madella cartridge replaced by bronze ring (HP pump)	168	–	–	–
3. Replacement of 2 correctors, pressure regulator and accumulators with dual-function corrector	–	3000	3000	3000
4. Brake control and distributor under the bonnet	1000	–	–	–
5. Suspension piston rod: reduction of length of one cone, removal of the other	29	29	29	29
6. Gear selector fixing stud (D334-101) in C3 EE steel	12	–	–	–
Total	1412	3029	3029	3029

Handwritten annotations specify the follow-up: modification no. 2 is "in progress ✓ SABRAZAT" then contradicted by a "No - see note No. 1 9.10.55"; no. 5 refers to a note "NE 30309 of 25.9.57"; no. 6 is annotated "no." p. 3.

The final NOTE requests the corresponding drawings to verify the projected gains, and points out that a centrifugal clutch control device on the dynamo is "also on the programme" p. 3. The document is validated by Mr. Chalus, head of MODE.

Context

In 1957, the DS 19 had been on the market for two years (launched at the 1955 Paris Motor Show) and the ID 19, a simplified version, since 1957. These models incorporated the hydropneumatic suspension designed by Paul Magès, whose high manufacturing cost — high-pressure pumps, correctors, accumulators — weighed on the cost price of the range.

Cost reduction approaches through material substitution (sintered iron, specific steels) or component simplification (dual-function corrector replacing several organs) were common in the automotive industry of this period, which was keen to make costly technical innovations profitable.

Archivist's perspective

This document offers a rare glimpse into the daily engineering work surrounding Paul Magès, not from the angle of invention but of its economic industrialisation. It shows that Magès, far from limiting himself to design, participated directly in cost trade-offs regarding his own suspension p. 3.

The organisation into a numbered programme, with reminders and follow-up annotations staggered until January 1958, suggests a rigorous and continuous management process for "cost prices" at Citroën.

This report is likely part of the same file as the Magès calculation note of 4 March 1958, and sheds light, upstream, on the reliability issues mentioned in the pneumatic block pressure survey of December 1957.