Foreign News: Saving Citro

Playing baccarat at the big table in Deauville in 1929, the flashy little Jew whom everyone calls the Ford of France tossed a 10,000 franc (then $400) chip over his shoulder with the contemptuous remark “Be so kind, Madame, as to take this and stop breathing down the back of my neck.”

Today M. André Citroën no longer has francs to fling. For some years now the flashy little maker of Citroën cars, with a lack of originality he once would have scorned, has been leasing the new features pioneered by Walter P. Chrysler. Chrysler “floating power” became in France “le moteurflottant” of Citroën. It helped, but not enough. This year, slipping perilously near to bankruptcy, M. Citroën struck out with a new car of his own which has made Paris sit up and stare. It has front wheel drive, “knee action” on all four wheels and lines phenomenally low and streamy.

Instantly a smash hit, the new Citroën is the most conspicuous change of the year on the streets of Paris. But, even so, it has not yet managed to pull M. Citroën out of his deep, dark red. Last week, pale and determined, the Ford of France faced his bankers. They were tired of carrying him, with extension after extension (TIME, March 12). They wanted to foreclose. With a frantic gleam in his dark eyes André Citroën shrilled “Messieurs, on the day I am deprived of control over the business I have built up I shall commit suicide!”

With France in the grip of acute Deflation, neither her bankers nor the Government want another spectacular suicide. Last week was a good time for a smart Frenchman like André Citroën to sell his life dearly. Having hurled his ultimatum he sat back and did not have to wait long.

Michelin, the historic French firm of pneumatic tire pioneers, is one of Citroën’s largest creditors. With some 30,000,000 francs ($2,000,000) at stake, Michelin decided last week to gamble on the popularity of the new Citroën. Perhaps in another three months the Ford of France will be able to get on his feet. For that period Michelin agreed to guarantee the debts of Citroën, but on a hard condition. To make sure that the slick motorman plays no tricks, Michelin forced M. Citroën to admit into his plants Michelin technicians and Michelin accountants who will keep tab on every move, every franc, every centime.