Le Figaro, 4 December 1974: the Peugeot-Citroën agreement under the aegis of the State

In this document

The Peugeot-Citroën merger

The central article, signed by Marc Hennekinne, sets out the "basic principle" of the agreement: each group "will retain its originality, its personality, its products, its distribution network and its after-sales service" p. 2. The stated objective is to reassure the customers of both brands and to "restore the health of the firm" Citroën thanks to "State aid" p. 2.

The mechanism described is based on the pooling of tooling: the Aulnay-sous-Bois factory (220,000 m²), which was then producing "200 CX per day" and could "absorb 1,600", is presented as an example of tooling "designed to adapt to any type of car, from the 2 CV to the SM" p. 2. Reciprocally, Peugeot could allow Citroën to benefit from its steering column factory p. 2.

The article specifies the role of each: "Peugeot, in the new association, will play the role of manager, the State, for its part, will advance the funds necessary to bail out the ailing company" p. 2, with this final formula: "it is not a question of divide and rule, but of uniting to survive" p. 2.

The manufacturers' statistical sheets

Boxes provide 1973-1974 data:

Citroën is described as a 100% subsidiary of Citroën S.A., a holding company 53% owned by Pardevi, itself controlled by Michelin p. 1-2.

The Saviem-Berliet file

A second article, presented as a "scenario" of the Régie Renault in the conditional tense, considers the purchase by Renault of the Berliet shares held by Citroën S.A. (98.6% of the capital), financed by equity and a loan from the F.D.E.S., without merging the two companies p. 1-3. Page 3 also mentions a position taken by the C.G.T. demanding that the State's participation in Citroën preserve the "interests of small shareholders" p. 3.

Support and stock market pages

Pages 3-4 are occupied by advertisements and by the Paris Stock Exchange and Wall Street listings of 3 December 1974, with no direct thematic link to the Peugeot-Citroën agreement.

Context

Historically, the Peugeot-Citroën agreement of December 1974 marks the beginning of an industrial alliance that would lead, in 1976, to the absorption of Citroën by Peugeot within the PSA group. Citroën, in great financial difficulty since the first oil crisis and the commercial failure of several models (including the GS and the rotary engine), was looking for a partner capable of ensuring its industrial sustainability.

This context outside the document sheds light on the article's insistence on maintaining the "originality" of each brand: this promise would only be partially kept in the following decades, the progressive merger of technical platforms being one of the best-known consequences of the rapprochement.

This document appears a few months before Paul Magès retired from Citroën, in September 1974, after a 49-year career (photographs of Paul Magès' retirement ; letter from Mr. Meignan).

Archivist's view

This document does not directly concern the technical work of Paul Magès, but it sheds light on the industrial and financial context in which his activity at Citroën took place in the mid-1970s: a company with heavy losses p. 2, seeking the support of the State and an industrial partner. This clipping dates from only a few months after Magès' retirement, which occurred in September 1974 (photographs of Paul Magès' retirement), at the end of a 49-year career that began in August 1925 (draft letter to Mr. Sarre and interview plan).

The handwritten note "Citroën internal information" p. 1 suggests that this press clipping was probably kept in an internal Citroën press monitoring folder, alongside other bulletins of the same type — see in particular the Message from François Rollier of 24 June 1974, which already announced this rapprochement, and the Le Figaro clippings of 3 December 1974, published the day before on the same subject.

The main interest of this piece lies in its dated and precise testimony of the industrial issues (factories, production figures, role of the State) at the pivotal moment when the future of Citroën was at stake, a few months after the launch of the CX p. 2.