CITROEN

Traction 11

The CITROEN Traction Avant 11CV is one of the most important cars in automotive history — a machine so advanced that it defined the modern motorcar a generation early. Launched in November 1934, the Traction Avant was the world's first mass-produced car to combine front-wheel drive with a welded steel monocoque body, independent suspension on all four wheels and hydraulic brakes. The CITROEN Traction Avant 11CV was the volume version of the range, and it remains the model most people picture when they hear the name. The Traction Avant was the work of two visionaries: engineer André Lefebvre, who masterminded its radical front-wheel-drive monocoque architecture, and sculptor Flaminio Bertoni, who gave it its low, purposeful, timeless shape. So ambitious was the project that its development costs helped bankrupt Citroën and led to Michelin taking control of the company in 1934 — but the car itself was an immediate technical triumph. The CITROEN Traction Avant 11CV was powered by a 1,911 cc four-cylinder engine and was offered in several body styles, including the four-door Berline, the longer "Familiale", the elegant Coupé and Cabriolet, and the clever Commerciale with its split tailgate. Its low centre of gravity, surefooted handling and spacious cabin made it feel modern for decades, and its sinister, fast image made it equally beloved by the French police and, famously, the gangsters they chased. Produced from 1934 right through to July 1957, with around 760,000 built across all versions, the CITROEN Traction Avant 11CV soldiered on until it was replaced by the equally revolutionary Citroën DS. Today the CITROEN Traction Avant 11CV is a cornerstone French classic — historically significant, beautifully styled, surprisingly usable, and forever associated with the golden age of pre-war and post-war French engineering.