Citroen Type A

The Citroën Type A, sold as the 10 HP Type A, was the first car Citroën made and was built in Paris from June 1919 to December 1921, with 24,093 produced. The company's founder had made ammunition during the First World War and from 1917 looked into a medium-range light car under Jules Salomon. The car had a water-cooled 1,327 cc four-cylinder engine giving 18 hp and a top speed of 65 km/h, with brakes on the rear wheels only. Its final drive used a bevel gear with herringbone teeth, whose shape inspired the double chevron badge. A short and a long chassis carried bodies from a four-seat torpedo tourer to a coupe de ville, light truck and van. A standard car cost 7,950 francs in the first year, and in 1920 output passed 20,000 cars, which made Citroën the first mass-production maker in Europe.