But it all ended when Citroen was 6 years old. His father was cheated when he was doing business outside. Not only did all his investments disappear, but the original savings at home also went up in smoke. Father couldn't accept the ending and committed suicide. Mother couldn't bear the blow, and her already sick body became weaker and died soon. In an instant, the family was ruined.
Thanks to the relief of relatives, Citroen struggled to survive and was admitted to a famous university-Paris Institute of Advanced Comprehensive Engineering. He chose engineering because he wanted to master a reliable technology as the capital for his future job search. Subconsciously, he was full of doubts and disbelief about business, because his father died because of business failure.
At that time, he was full of worship and trust in technology. He believes that scientific and technological progress will definitely bring happiness to mankind, and his ideal is to be an engineer in the future.
1900, Citroen, who graduated from university, went to Poland to visit relatives for a holiday. On the trip, he happened to notice a herringbone gear on a device. This little discovery inspired him. After he came back from his grandmother's house, Citroen invented the herringbone gear transmission system, that is, it is easier to cut the transmission device with a double-character shape, which is lighter and more labor-saving than the traditional cutting method. He got a patent for it.
1905, Citroen set up its own small company to produce its own patented products. Because of the stability and efficiency of herringbone gear, it soon began to be sold throughout Europe, but Citroen was not satisfied with it. He has always felt that it is not enough to produce gears, but he should move on.
1908, the circuit electronic signal equipment factory opened by Morse Brothers was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Citroen decided to take over this enterprise. In order to find out the disadvantages of the enterprise, he came to the company's grassroots inspection. With keen observation and determination, he realized that the main obstacle of the company came from the small workshop-style production mode, so Citroen drastically changed the old management mode and greatly improved the company's operating conditions.
19 12 is a crucial year for Citroen. He came to America and visited Henry Ford's car factory. This visit gave him a great shock. What he should do after he understands gears is to produce cars. He admired Ford's large-scale production line, introduced it to France for the first time, and conducted experiments in his own factory.
19 13 years, he named his company "Citroen gear factory", specializing in the production of gear drives and began to produce cars. He took the tooth profile on the gear as the symbol, established the factory logo, and used it as the trademark of the product. Until today, as long as people see this sign, they will immediately associate it with Citroen Automobile Company. At that time, the "Citroen Gear Factory" was not very large, with only 1 draftsman and 10 workers. Citroen himself is the factory director, as well as the administrative director, technician and salesman.
The gear business is well known. Don't worry. What worries Citroen is car production. He made several attempts, but failed for one reason or another. Just when he wanted to go on, World War I broke out and his car test had to be stopped. During World War I, 36-year-old Andre Citroen was drafted into the army. He was appointed as an artillery second lieutenant, specifically responsible for rectifying the postal service of the army. At that time, frontline officers and soldiers mainly contacted their relatives in their hometown in the rear through letters and emails. During the war, "a letter from home is worth a thousand pounds of gold", and a fast and accurate postal route was established between the front and the rear, which not only improved the morale of the soldiers in the army, but also soothed the mood in the rear. When the chief officer was worried about this matter, Citroen, who had many management experiences, had a brainwave and put forward a suggestion: setting up a certain range of postal areas in the postal service and using colored envelopes to correspond to each postal area one by one, which was more convenient and quick, and greatly improved the postal work of the army.
After the success of the first battle, Citroen is looking for new opportunities. In the eyes of others, war never means a good thing, but in the eyes of Citroen, it also means a huge market and business opportunities. At that time, at the front, the French army was short of shells. Citroen proposed to build a factory with a daily output of 20,000 artillery shells, and this proposal was quickly approved.
Citroen, who was decisive, built an arms factory on the famous Seine River in Paris in just over 40 days. Here, his organizational management ability has been greatly exercised and brought into play. Because of the shortage of manpower during the war, he ignored the opposition of others and began to hire women to work. Facts have proved that women are not worse than men. In just a few months from trial production to formal production, the daily output of artillery shells has increased from 1 000 to 55000.
By the end of the war, due to the success of the arms business, Citroen had almost no capital, which enabled him to concentrate on producing cars in the following time. He boasted to everyone: "In the future, we will produce 100 cars every day!" He wants to be the "Ford" of France, but few people believe him. Everyone thinks this man is crazy.
But Citroen is serious. Knowing that he lacked experience, he hired a senior automobile engineer with a high salary. At the same time, because people's purchasing power was still very low after the war, he took the "low price" route. 1965438+On May 28th, 2009, Model A was born. The engine power of this model is 13.2kW, the maximum speed is 65km/h ... and the fuel consumption is 7.5 liters per 100 kilometers. It adopts electronic ignition and a 3-speed transmission. After Model A appeared, it quickly got an order of 6.5438+0.6 million, and became a car star in France and even Europe at that time. This is the first batch of cars manufactured by Citroen Automobile Company after its establishment, and it is also the first car produced by assembly line in Europe. The original assembly line produced 30 vehicles a day, and delivered 28 10 vehicles that year.
Because of the low fuel consumption of Model A, it won the Le Mans Best Economic Performance Award at 1920, which soon brought good luck to Citroen. By 1923, the daily output reached 200 vehicles, and by 1924, it reached 300 vehicles, making Citroen one of the successful automobile manufacturers in Europe. 1924 On July 28th, Citroen Automobile Company was formally established. Citroen not only brought the American assembly line to France, but also promoted American-style marketing methods and after-sales service measures in its own company. He was also one of the first businessmen who knew how to use advertisements. In order to expand brand awareness, he spent 2% of his turnover on advertising. In this respect, he is even better than his American counterparts. Because Citroen has always insisted that the car factory sells not only cars, but also meticulous services.
He began to work hard on the way of buying and selling cars, established a one-year warranty system, established a distribution network, and listed a list of parts and maintenance expenses, so that the expenses of all sales points and maintenance points could be unified. 1922, he vigorously promoted the method of selling cars by installment, established the first institution specializing in installment payment in China, and founded a number of car rental companies abroad, forming a tour bus service network all over the country.
In the promotion of the company and products, Citroen has exhausted its methods. At that time, he was a creative genius.
After World War I, traffic signs on all roads in France were destroyed. Citroen decided to provide various road signs to the French government in the name of the company and set them on roads all over France, which not only helped the government solve traffic management problems, but also became an advertisement for Citroen.
1922, at the opening ceremony of the 7th Paris Motor Show, an airplane dragged a smoke screen subtitle-"Citroen" (Citroen? . At that time, it was only nine years since the Wright brothers in the United States successfully invented the plane, which was still a very strange thing. Citroen has come up with such an unprecedented spectacular marketing campaign, which is really amazing. In addition, Citroen also hung a giant light box advertisement of up to 30 meters on the Eiffel Tower-"Citroen". In Paris at night, the word "Citroen" is particularly bright and eye-catching. As long as people see the tall Eiffel Tower, they will think of the name of Citroen. This move was later regarded as a successful model in the history of world advertising.
1923, he launched a large-scale car race across the Sahara desert; 1924, organized a "black tour" racing activity all over Africa. 1927, American Lin Bai successfully flew over the North Atlantic. He tried to persuade the flying hero to go to his factory to receive congratulations from the workers. As a result, the newspaper published such an article the next day-"Lindbergh visited Citroen".
Starting from 1928, citro 龙 n has published large advertisements in major newspapers in France 100 at the end of each month; 193 1 year, he opened the world's largest car mall (400 meters long) in Paris, France. Besides selling cars, he also shows movies and gives concerts. At the same time, Citroen also launched the "Yellow Conquest". Following the "black tour" across Africa, he made his new car go deep into Asia. The Citroen team set off from Beirut, crossed the Himalayas and arrived in Beijing. It lasted 13 months and traveled 30,000 kilometers, testing the car's ability to face all kinds of bad road conditions, and expanding the ultimate possibility for the greatest invention of the 20th century-the car. Citroen regards the car as his whole. He does not pursue luxury in life, but constantly invests in building factories and developing new models, and pursues continuous progress in technology. He even claimed that "as long as the idea is good, the price is not important".
As soon as technologies such as suspension engine and front-wheel drive came out, Citroen couldn't wait to apply them to its own cars. 1925, citro 龙 n resolutely decided to stop the production of wooden body and use advanced all-steel body to produce the first all-steel car in France. In 1930s, Citroen spared no expense to develop and produce the T-Traction Avant, which integrates the three cutting-edge technologies of front-wheel drive, chassis body integration and hydraulic braking. This car almost includes the design miracle of modern automobile industry, and it was also the most important and successful automobile product at that time.
1934 04 18 when Citroen showed this car to the press, the whole world was shocked. The next day, the French newspaper reported: "It is so novel, so bold, so creative and so different. It is more appropriate to call it sensational. "
But although the idea is good, the cost is very huge. Innovation and change require high funds. Although this front-wheel drive car, which was later called "robber car", brought great honor and profit to Citroen, it was a disaster at that time.
First of all, its cycle is too long, and the next products can't be launched as scheduled. In addition, after rushing to put into production, there are many defects in design and manufacturing, and sales are blocked. Citroen is facing a huge debt crisis. But before that, he had borrowed money from the bank many times, and the bank was unwilling to take any more risks for his new experiment this time.
Without bank loans and government support, Citroen, which has been ill for several months, can no longer convince others of its bright future. 1934 65438+February 2 1, he had to declare bankruptcy. The bank is manipulating everything behind the scenes. 1In June, 935, the shares of Citroen were transferred to Michelin Tire Company, and he completely left the enterprise he founded. Half a year later, on July 3rd, 1935, Citroen, who struggled for a lifetime, rested forever.
In the two days after his death, countless workers, dealers and even ordinary customers flocked to Citroen to pay tribute to him, and the French government also awarded him the second-class Medal of Honor. Although he has left, the brand "Citroen" is still one of the best brands. His front-wheel drive design is not out of date. Maybe he is not the best entrepreneur of Citroen, but he is the best innovator and reformer. He paved the way for the development of automobile industry with his whole life. Experiences of orphans whose parents died young.
Invent patented products and sell them successfully.
You can not only sell cars, but also give away services.