FIELD WORK
The Citroën 2CV is so well-established as a shorthand for France that it’s inserted into almost any scene with the regularity of Breton stripes, garlic or a Routemaster bus in London. And with good reason: this clever little car was instrumental in mobilising France. But following the launch of the Renault 4, the 2CV’s popularity waned – and while it enjoyed a revival in the 1970s, sales were never again as strong as they had been before Renault waded in. Neither the Ami nor the Dyane reversed Citroën’s fortunes and the Renault 4 had usurped it as the popular French people’s car.
But why was this? Was it a better car, or was it simply something new? There can only be one way to settle this over 60 years later – to take comparable examples of both cars and to assess each in the context of the other.
Citroën 2CV
The story of the 2CV begins before the Second World War. Citroën Vice President Pierre Boulanger had identified a market for a – a small car for taking the farming family to Mass and to market alike. It didn’t need to be powerful, quite the opposite. It needed reliability above all else, simplicity, the ability to be driven by an inexperienced driver, the ability to be mended with a handful of tools, and the ability to handle French roads
