Message from François Rollier (24 June 1974) announcing the Citroën-Peugeot-Michelin merger

In this document

The message from François Rollier

Dated 24 June 1974, this handwritten text, later transcribed into typescript (pages 27 and 28, a duplicate of the same content), is signed by François Rollier. It precedes and introduces an official statement. In it, Rollier asserts that "safeguarding the personality, the originality, the unique character of Citroën has always been the objective of those responsible for this House" p. 27, while acknowledging the difficulty of this "task" in a "deeply evolving economic context, where equilibrium thresholds are shifting" p. 27. He indicates that he wishes to provide "personal knowledge" of the statement that follows p. 27-28.

The statement on the Peugeot-Citroën-Michelin merger

The reproduced statement explains that "the evolution of the automobile market throughout the world" and "the effects of the oil crisis" make a "concentration in the French automobile industry" necessary p. 27-28.

It announces that Michelin and Peugeot have decided to "join their efforts" with Citroën to form, "in a legal form to be specified," a "coherent entity" preserving two distinct networks and two distinct ranges p. 27-28.

The text specifies that Peugeot will ensure the management of this entity, that Michelin will remain present, and that this will not prevent Peugeot from developing its "traditional activities (automobiles, tools and cycles)," including the existing association with the Régie Nationale des Usines Renault p. 27-28.

A schedule is set: Peugeot and Michelin must develop, "before 1 November 1974," a "detailed program" p. 27-28. A "joint company" must be created "immediately" to prepare for the merger, with the respective capital stakes of the two groups only being definitively set at the "second phase" — with Michelin remaining, in the meantime, "very largely predominant" p. 27-28.

Context

The first oil crisis of 1973 disrupted the global automobile market and weakened several manufacturers, including Citroën, which had been a subsidiary of Michelin since 1934. This merger, made official publicly in the following months (see the press clippings from December 1974), would lead to the creation of PSA Peugeot-Citroën in 1976, with Peugeot gradually taking control of Citroën.

Paul Magès, the engineer behind the hydropneumatic suspension, had been working at Citroën since 1925 during this pivotal period when the brand's historical independence was coming to an end; he would retire in September 1974, a few months after this message (photographs of Paul Magès' retirement).

Archivist's perspective

This document is likely a key piece of the collection: it captures, through Rollier's words, the precise moment — 24 June 1974 — when Citroën's management informed its employees internally of a decisive turning point for the company, several months before the public announcement of December 1974.

Rollier's tone, mixing pride in the "originality" of the House and acceptance of an economic constraint, sheds light on the state of mind of Citroën's leaders at that time. This message can be compared with the Message announcing the Peugeot-Citroën merger in Le Figaro of 4 December 1974, which made the same operation public a few months later, as well as his address to the Citroën AGM of June 1973, one year earlier.