Citroën-Simca lawsuit regarding 'road holding': the full judgment (L'Argus, 23 February 1956)

In this document

The context of the trial

The lead article, signed by Jacques Loste, announces that the Tribunal de Commerce de la Seine, under the presidency of Mr. Luzuy, has delivered its judgment in the trial opposing Citroën to Simca (and Simca to Michelin) regarding comparative advertising on 'road holding' p. 141. The case mobilized a dozen pleadings spread over five afternoons, more than fifteen hours of hearings p. 141, as well as a screening session of the film La Tenue de Route at the Agence Havas on 23 December (p. 141, note 2). The author highlights the importance of the companies involved: 'declared capital approaches 30 billion francs', market capitalization around 140 billion, approximately 80,000 employees p. 141.

The full judgment

The initial requests are reproduced: Citroën demands that Simca cease the distribution of the leaflet 'the old ones prove they get tired' and that the film La Tenue de Route, produced by MA-RO-MA and distributed by De Nesle, be banned, under a penalty of 100,000 francs per day p. 142. Simca, for its part, blames Michelin and demands ten million francs in damages p. 142.

The Tribunal examines the Simca leaflet, which used a table of 'general road holding indices' attributed to the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, opposing a 'Car A (sports, rear-wheel drive)' rated 100 to the 'Aronde surbaissée 55' rated 91 and a 'Car C' rated 83 p. 142. The judgment notes that these figures do not appear in the official report of the Conservatoire (no. N.120.176, dated 20 December 1954, containing 28 photo plates and 11 graphs) p. 142-143.

The film, screened notably at the Splendid Gaîté and the Cluny, presented a table of 'cornering ability indices' comparing Jaguar (100), Aronde surbaissée 55 (91), Citroën traction avant (77), Volkswagen (24), Kaiser (21), Hillmann X (18), Lancia Aurelia (18) and Porsche 356 (12) p. 143 — indices that the Tribunal also deems absent from the official report p. 143.

The Tribunal also examines the Michelin campaign on the 'X tire', judging certain phrases 'unfortunate and clumsy' but without characterized disparagement of Simca p. 144. It finally dismisses Simca's claims against Citroën and Michelin, finds fault against MA-RO-MA and De Nesle for the film, and charges 9/10 of the costs to Simca and 1/10 to MA-RO-MA/De Nesle. The judgment is dated 20 February 1956 p. 144. Page 145 contains advertisements and the Argus valuation of used cars, unrelated to the case.

Context

This trial is part of the commercial rivalry of the 1950s between Citroën, proponent of the traction avant (including the DS, presented on 6 October 1955), and Simca, promoter of its rear-wheel drive with the Aronde. The 'advertising war' around road holding illustrates the growing importance, at that time, of technical tests (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Prévention Routière) as an automotive sales argument.

Archivist's perspective

This document never mentions Paul Magès or the hydropneumatic suspension; it therefore does not directly fall under his technical work. Its presence in the collection is explained by the interest of Magès, then deputy head of Super-Contrôle at Citroën and designer of the DS hydropneumatic suspension (see the notebook of the first tests of the 2 CV and the test of the 15-Six H), for public debates on 'road holding' — a central notion of his own research on suspension.

It constitutes a valuable testimony on the competitive climate surrounding Citroën innovations at the time the company was launching the DS, and can be read as a counterpoint to the technical files in the same collection, notably the Summary of folder 41-59, dedicated to the hydropneumatic suspension and the evolutions of the DS.