Seattle Citroën
Citroën Cars Corporation - West Coast
UPDATED 12/2025
SUMMARY
In the mid 1950’s, Citroën formally entered the United States to import, distribute, and sell cars. They established an east and west coast headquarters that were both up-and-running by 1955. Their west coast headquarters was located in a historic building on a prominent corner in Beverly Hills. They remained at this property until 1969 at which time they moved to a larger building in Los Angeles.
There are no single dates when Citroën started and ended their odyssey in the USA, as each occurred in phases that spanned several years. For the purposes of this story however, Citroën started in the USA in February of 1955 and ended their North American adventure in December of 1977. If you read the story below, you will see how we came to select those dates.
The definitive resource for Citroën’s experience in the USA is Richard Bonfond’s book, What a Ride, Growing up with Citroën in North America. I urge you to track down a copy if you are interested in this topic.
We have created a brief summary of Citroën’s west coast headquarters below. The information in this story comes from a variety of sources, including Richard’s book.
CITROEN CARS CORPORATION
Richard Bonfond’s book contains details about Citroën’s first attempt at setting up a company in the USA. The short version of this story is that in the years after World War II, Citroën set up a subsidiary company in the USA called, Citroën Cars Corporation. The purpose of this company was to facilitate selling cars to Americans and to French ex-pats who were visiting France and wanted to ship the car back home to the USA after their vacation. It is unclear how successful this venture was, but it did establish a framework for an American-based subsidiary company that would become important in the years to come.
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In the early 1950's, with the DS nearing its debut, Citroën decided to formally enter the US market to import, distribute, and sell cars. This is when their US subsidiary company was given a different purpose. The new mission statement for Citroën Cars Corporation was as follows:
“A factory owned subsidiary and distributor of Citroën cars in the USA”
There are a handful of letters that have survived the years and one tells us quite precisely when Citroën first started to operate as an importer and distributor of cars in the USA. The letter was written by one of Citroën’s export managers at the time named, Michel Koundadze, who was responsible for Citroën’s expansion into North America. In this letter, Koundadze notified Charlie Dirscherl (the owner of the independent importer of Citroëns in Los Angeles, Challenger Motors) that he would no longer be dealing with Citroën of France. Instead, effective immediately, Charlie Dirscherl should conduct all future business through Citroën’s American subsidiary, Citroën Cars Corporation, which was now in charge of all US operations. This letter, from February 10, 1955, is significant since it signifies an effective start date of Citroën in the USA.
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So, while Citroën had a subsidiary company in place in the USA in the early 1950’s, it wasn’t until early 1955 that Citroën Cars Corporation's focus formally changed such that it would be used as an importer and distributor of new vehicles in the USA.
Provided by Toni Werk
MICHEL KOUNDADZE - IN CHARGE OF CITROEN'S EXPANSION INTO NORTH AMERICA
1955 LETTER BETWEEN KOUNDADZE AND DIRSCHERL
EAST AND WEST COAST HEADQUARTERS
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Due to the immense footprint of America, Citroën Cars Corporation decided to divide the country into two halves with a west coast and an east coast headquarters. The Mississippi River was the approximate dividing line between the two divisions.
The east coast headquarters was initially located in the same building as Air France’s Manhattan office at 683 Fifth Avenue in New York. Since this was just an office, Citroën would need a showroom and other facilities as soon as cars started showing up. By March of 1956, they had left the Fifth Avenue office and opened a showroom at 300 Park Avenue, along with a new off-site service and parts location. There would be several moves later on for the east coast headquarters, usually with the showroom and after-sales functions awkwardly located in separate buildings scattered around New York.
For their west coast headquarters, Citroën chose a historic building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles that was suitable to accommodate the entire west coast operation.​
THE BUILDING AT 8423 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD
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Citroën chose a stylish building for their west coast headquarters. It was initially a drive-up market built in 1929 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The market was located on the northeast corner of Hamilton Drive and Wilshire Boulevard. The building’s most prominent feature was the 40-foot-tall clock tower that initially had large signs installed above, adding to its stature. A small gas station was originally located on the southwest corner of the lot, although the gas station was demolished at some point.
waterandpower.org
waterandpower.org
waterandpower.org
THE MARKET AT 8423 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD IN THE 1930's
The market sold meats, baked goods, fruits, vegetables, and other grocery items. The store fronts had an open-air feel, perfectly suited for sunny southern California. Customers could drive right up, do their shopping, and hop back into their cars. The second story of the building (on the southern side) initially contained a few residential apartments, but these upstairs areas were later converted into offices.
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After the outdoor market left, a few different car dealerships used the building, noting that with roll-up doors and multiple stalls, it was ideally suited as an auto facility. In early 1955, Citroën moved in and stayed there for the next 14 years. After they moved out in 1969, the Wilshire location continued to serve as a car dealership, most notably Beverly Hills Porsche/Audi. In 2016, the building was added to the city of Beverly Hills’ Register of Historic Properties and in 2019, the city bought the building for US$16.5 million, 500 times its original construction cost. The city is leasing the space to the current occupant, a Lamborghini/Bentley dealer.
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On a recent visit to the building, the Lamborghini dealer indicated that they are moving out at some point and the building will be used by the city for a different purpose. Stay tuned....
RARE PHOTO OF THE SHOWROOM AT THE WILSHIRE LOCATION ~1968
Ivan Frank
Chris Dubuque
INTERIOR OF THE WILSHIRE LOCATION IN 1930 AND IN 2025
NOTICE THE INTRICATE CEILING LATTICE STRUCTURE
It is important to recognize that while these east and west coast facilities were Citroën’s administrative headquarters, they also had showrooms, part departments, and service facilities that were in direct competition with the second-party dealerships that Citroën would soon start to recruit.
Speaking of recruiting, an important role for the employees of Citroën Cars Corporation was to find dealerships around the country and sign them up to become second-party resellers of Citroën automobiles. For the most part, their recruiting was successful. In March of 1959, Citroën had 19 authorized dealers in southern California. By the time Citroën’s 1960 dealer directory was published, the number of dealers across California reached 33. The east coast headquarters was similarly successful with their recruiting efforts. The official Citroën dealer directory for 1960 shows a respectable 160 dealers scattered around the country.
PARTS DEPARTMENT AT 8466 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD.
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We discovered that Citroën briefly used a building across the street from their main location for a parts department, at 8466 Wilshire Boulevard. Digging through newspaper archives even turned up a small, blurry photo.
LA Times, Sept 1957
It seems that they first used this building in 1957, but just for a year or two. By 1959, they had relocated their parts department to an even larger facility on La Brea Avenue. The building at 8466 Wilshire has been gone for decades, but we found a vintage arial view showing both the headquarters at 8423 Wilshire and their parts department at 8466 Wilshire.
ARIAL VIEW SHOWING THE HEADQUARTERS AND THE PARTS DEPARTMENT
LA BREA FACILITY
Between about 1959 and 1962, the west coast branch of Citroën Cars Corporation also used a location at 960 North La Brea Avenue for after-sales support (parts, service, etc). This building was yet another historic building in L.A., built in 1933. After being vacant for decades, the building has now been highly restored and currently is a high-end health club.
Google Street View
960 LA BREA AVENUE AS SEEN TODAY
Below is a fantastic photo of a Citroën employee showing off the parts department in the La Brea facility to some of their second-party dealers, including Dick Feder from San Francisco’s Executive Motors (in the light-colored suit) and Charles Haron from Fresno’s Haron Motor Sales (in the foreground).
PARTS DEPARTMENT AT THE LE BREA LOCATION ~1959
Bonfond Family Archives
INSIDE THE LA BREA FACILITY ~1959
Bonfond Family Archives
Citroën only stayed in this location for a few years and later returned their after-sales support to the Wilshire location. No reason has been identified for their short stay in this building, but if I were to hazard a guess, it was too expensive.
THE PEOPLE
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A Citroën employee named Lucien Paradis was one of the first people that Citroën stationed on the west coast of the USA, where he took up residence in an apartment in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. According to a 1952 article in the Pasadena Independent Newspaper, his job was to find a suitable location for Citroën to use when they formally arrived. This article is significant since it tells us that Citroën had their sights set on formally entering the US market as early as 1952.
LUCIEN PARADIS - ONE OF THE FIRST CITROEN EMPLOYEES STATIONED IN THE USA
Lucien Paradis was also acting as a local Citroën representative for the two early-adopter (semi-independent) dealers in the L.A. area that were selling Citroën Traction Avants in the early 1950’s; Challenger Motors and Campbell Motors.
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In 1955, as the Wilshire location was being set-up, a man named Armand Garnier was hired to be the administrative head of their west coast operations and Claude Braux was hired to be the technical director. Richard Bonfond’s father, Albert Bonfond, was hired to be the service manager in 1956.
People with similar backgrounds were hired to do the same job functions for the east coast headquarters; Charles Buchet was the administrative head, Michel Rappellini as the technical director, and Jacques Menicucci as the service manager.
ALBERT BONFOND AND A YOUNG RICHARD
BonFond Family Archives
Citroën’s west coast headquarters on Wilshire Boulevard launched the careers of other people we have profiled on this website who worked there at various times. These include Albert Bonfond, Richard Bonfond, Bill Lonseth, Jacques Laude, Jim (Bob) Murphy, Don Runnalls, and Carter Willey.
ALBERT
BONFOND
RICHARD
BONFOND
BILL LONSETH
JACQUES LAUDE
BOB MURPHY
DON RUNNALLS
CARTER WILLEY
Bonfond family archives
ALBERT BONFOND (RIGHT) AND AN UNNAMED CITROEN EMPLOYEE IN FRONT OF THE WILSHIRE BUILDING - LATE 1950's
THE CARS SOLD BY CITROEN LOS ANGELES
By the time Citroën moved into the Wilshire Boulevard building, the Traction Avant was (almost) out of production, so it was initially 2CV’s and perhaps a very few H-Vans being sold. You can read about the early days of selling 2CV's in the USA HERE.
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Bonfond family archives
EARLY 2CV's ARRIVING AT THE WILSHIRE LOCATION - ABOUT 1956
But it was the DS that was their real reason for entering the North American market. We found that new DS19’s were at the Wilshire location in the spring of 1956, which is very early insomuch as DS production is concerned. Some very early DS’s were sold there, including the famous 1956 DS19 with S/N 425, which today has been highly restored and is currently back in Europe. Several other very early serial number DS’s were processed through this facility, including S/N 422, 430, and 431.
Citroën had a business relationship with Panhard that started in 1955. Between about 1957 and 1959, Citroën tried to sell the Panhard Dyna model in the USA. However, Citroën sold very few and stopped importing them by about 1960. Notice from the photo below that, as with their other cars, Citroën L.A. had to modify the headlights on Panhards to comply with USA standards.
Bonfond family archives
Chris Dubuque
NEW PANHARDS IN FRONT AT THE WILSHIRE LOCATION ~1957 (AND 2025)
In 1961, Citroën started selling the AMI 6 in the USA. AMI 6’s lasted in the Citroën pricelists until about 1965, but likely due to the car’s unorthodox styling, they sold very few and it was withdrawn from the US market.
Ivan Frank
Chris Dubuque
8423 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD ~1964 (AND 2025)
Ivan Frank
The 2CV disappeared from the USA pricelists in 1964, a year before the AMI 6 did. However, Richard Bonfond indicates that with a bit of arm-twisting, a customer could still special order a 2CV through the US dealership network (often under Citroën’s European Delivery program) until 1967. But as of January 1, 1968, a plethora of new Federal safety and emission rules kicked-in, bringing a hard-stop to any official importation of 2CV’s.
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In 1969, the Mehari was added to their line-up, but the Mehari experience came to an end in the USA in 1970. Since there are no formal records, it is unknown how many Meharis were sold in the USA. One source indicates it was only 214, but another source indicates it was a bit over 1000. I would tend to believe the higher number.
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It was in late 1970 when the SM made its appearance in the USA. Below is a photo of an early SM that Citroën Cars Corporation imported and entered in the 1971 L.A. Auto Show, which was held in October of 1970. Notice that this car is a full European model, since Citroën did not have a US model ready in time to support the auto show.
Photo provided by John Sage -- FinchHaven Digital Photography
SM ON DISPLAY AT THE 1971 LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW
THE BEATRICE STREET BUILDING
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By the late 1960’s, sales had been gradually increasing to the extent that Citroën was outgrowing the historic Wilshire Boulevard location. In 1969, they moved into a brand-new building that they had commissioned at 12615 Beatrice Street, near LAX airport. It had 45,000 square feet of interior space on a 1.9-acre lot. While the new building might have been more convenient and useful to suit their needs, it lacked the charm and street appeal of the Wilshire location.
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Due to Citroën's relationship with Maserati at that time, the Beatrice Street location was also used to sell and support the Maserati cars of the era, such as the Bora, Merak, and Khamsin - all of which used varying quantities of Citroën components. Maseratis at this time were being sold in the USA under the subsidiary company name, Maserati Automobiles Incorporated.
Bonfond Family Archives
12615 BEATRICE STREET IN THE MID-1970's
Google Street View 2025
12615 BEATRICE STREET AS SEEN TODAY
PROMATIONAL ASHTRAY SHOWING OFF THE BEATRICE STREET BUILDING
MASERATI HEADER SHOWING THE BEATRICE STREET AS THEIR WEST COAST HEADQUARTERS
WINDING DOWN
According to a US trade commission report, Citroën sold more cars in the USA in 1972 than in any of the previous years, by a big margin. Based on sales alone, it would seem that the future looked at least somewhat bright.
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However, burgeoning safety and emission rules were taking a big toll on profitability and viability. Starting with cars manufactured on January 01, 1968, all cars sold in the USA had to meet a plethora of new rules called the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS). There were hundreds of parts that needed to be re-designed or added to 1968 DS models to meet these new requirements. The most onerous of the new requirements for 1968 was the secondary air injection system that needed to be installed on the engine to meet the new exhaust emission rules. (You can read about all of the changes that Citroën needed to make on 1968 DS’s sold in the USA HERE.) Each subsequent model year brought more and more changes, just to keep up with the ever-growing list of FMVSS’s.
By 1973, Citroën was required to comply with bumper strengthening efforts to meet collision requirements for model year 1973. Citroën elected to redesign the front bumper for the SM model to meet these requirements, but it just wasn’t worth it for the aging DS platform. (You can read about the changes that Citroën had to make to North American SM’s HERE.)
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The USA-unique requirements were piling on faster than Citroën could keep-up with. Citroën was often late with the incorporation of the newest rules and had to occasionally resort to getting waivers from the authorities or to retrofit USA-compliant parts onto cars after they were already in the USA.
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An example of a retrofit they had to do after the cars had arrived on US shores was the addition of hazard flashers on 1968 models. Citroën was unable to get hazard flashers incorporated on the production line in time to meet the requirement, so employees from Citroën Cars Corporation in the USA had to intercept the cars before they were sold and install a domestically-sourced hazard light system, made by a company called Flarestat. Since different people around the country were installing the hazard light switch and its wiring, the installation quality varied widely. Sometimes the added wiring was very unprofessionally installed and the location of the switch on the dashboard was not consistent. Even though Citroën Cars Corporation was responsible to install these parts, we have discovered that on occasion, the installation of these USA-unique parts had been delegated to the downstream dealers, adding to the variability of the installation. In 1969 (a year late), they had finally incorporated hazard lights in the normal production process.
Bringatrailer.com
HAPHAZARD INSTALLATION OF HAZARD LIGHT SWITH ON A 1968 USA DS
The bumper height rule that was problematic with variable-height hydraulic suspension has been widely cited as a reason for Citroën departing the US market, but there were other regulatory show-stoppers on the horizon. One was that the US Government was threatening to drop the hammer on Citroën’s fully-powered brake system. The Feds didn't like the idea that there were failure modes where the car had to be stopped with brake accumulator pressure, which only provided stopping power for a limited number of stops. Citroën was being pressured by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) in the 1970’s to use a conventional dual-cavity master cylinder for their brake systems (as required by FMVSS #105), something that was not particularly feasible on their hydropneumatic cars of the era. Citroën started making small changes to the brake systems on DS's in the USA in 1969 and more in 1971 to make their fully-powered brake system behave more like the requirements spelled out in FMVSS #105. You can read more about changes to the brake system on American DS's HERE.
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In the early-to-mid-1970’s, Citroën flirted with the idea of federalizing the GS and/or CX for the US and Canadian market, but between the mushrooming FMVSS requirements, the oil and gas shortages of the early 1970’s, financial problems at Citroën headquarters in France, and the fact that Peugeot - now in control of Citroën - had little interest in having Citroën continue on in the USA, the North American Citroën experience was over.
Citroën gave up trying to sell the DS in the USA in 1972 and gave up on the SM in the USA in 1973. Citroën continued to operate the Beatrice street facility for a few more years as a parts and service location, but according to the city of Los Angeles' legal records, Citroën Cars Corporation officially ceased operation in the state of California on December 31, 1977.
Richard reports that only three employees stayed on at a nearby Peugeot facility in Carson, California to handle the few remaining administrative details associated with Citroëns. One of these people was Richard Bonfond’s father, Albert, and another was Jacques Laude. However, it is said that Jacques Laude only lasted a month in the new Peugeot regime. On the east coast, the story was similar with only a few employees staying on at a Peugeot facility in New Jersey.
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The president of Citroën Cars Corporation at the time was a man named, Rene France. He released the following heartfelt "goodbye" letter to all of the Citroën dealers on the west coast of the USA in early December, 1977. We presume that a similar letter was created for Citroën’s east coast dealership network.
Bonfond Family Archives
RENE FRANCE IN HAPPIER TIMES
1977 RENE FRANCE LETTER TO WEST COAST DEALERS SAYING "GOOD BYE"
LOCATIONS
8423 Wilshire Boulevard (1955-1969)
This was Citroën Cars Corporation’s first and most memorable location in Los Angeles. For most of their stay in this facility, it housed all functions of Citroën Cars Corporation for the west coast, including bureaucratic activities, new and used car sales, service, and spare parts. The building is now owned by the city of Beverly Hills and is a 'protected' building. Currently, the building is being used as a Lamborghini/Bentley dealer.
Ivan Frank
Google Street View
8423 WILSHIRE BOULEVEARD - 1964 AND 2024
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Bonfond Family Archives
Chris Dubuque
8423 WILSHIRE BOULEVEARD - 1956 AND 2025
8466 Wilshire Boulevard (approx. 1957-1958)
Citroën briefly used this building as a parts department. This building was located diagonally across the street from their headquarters at 8423 Wilshire. They left this location when they moved parts (and service) to the La Brea Avenue location.
960 N. La Brea Avenue (approx. 1959-1962)
Most sources say that this building was built in 1933, although some indicate it was 1928. It has had a variety of uses, but remained vacant for many years. The building has been recently restored and is now a high-end health club.
In the late 1950’s, it was used by Citroën Cars Corporation for after-sales functions (i.e. service and parts). In about 1962, these functions were returned to the Wilshire location above, probably due to the high cost of occupying two buildings.
Google Maps, 2023
960 N. LA BREA AVENUE AS SEEN TODAY
12615 Beatrice Street (1969-1977)
This location was a custom-built facility which housed all of Citroën Cars Corporation’s functions after they left the Wilshire location. They remained in this building until the end of their North American activity in late 1977. In the mid-1970's, after there were no more new Citroëns to sell, Maseratis were being sold and serviced from this location.
Bonfond Family Archives
Google Street View
12615 BEATRICE STREET IN THE MID-1970's AND 2025
Google Maps