In 1873 the family moved to Paris; upon arrival, the French tréma was added to the surname (reputedly by one of André's teachers), changing Citroen to Citroën.

It is reputed that the young André Citroën was inspired by the works of Jules Verne and had seen the construction of the Eiffel Tower for the World Exhibition, making him want to become an engineer.

[citation needed] In the middle of 1919, Citroën was one of the directors of the Société Française Doble, Paris, to build steam cars in France.

[citation needed] The costs of developing the advanced front wheel drive unibody Traction Avant and redeveloping the factory to produce it at the same time, led to bankruptcy in 1934.

The Traction Avant after initial problems improved the sales for the company, and was a great success and was in production apart from during World War II until 1957.

On 9 October 1958, while the Motor show was running, the city fathers renamed the Quai de Javel as the "Quai André Citroën," in recognition of the transformation effected since the city's 15th arrondissement, two generations earlier characterized by market gardening, had been selected by Citroën as the location for Europe's first mass production car plant.