Citroën “Made in Spain”: three factories, 60% of registrations and 300 auxiliary companies

Citroën has been a Made in Spain brand for more than sixty years.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
12 July 2023 Wednesday 23:08
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Citroën “Made in Spain”: three factories, 60% of registrations and 300 auxiliary companies

Citroën has been a Made in Spain brand for more than sixty years. It might only seem like a slogan, but behind it there are more than 13.2 million vehicles produced at the plants in Madrid, Vigo and Zaragoza.

The commercial presence began with the creation of the Sociedad Española de Automóviles Citroën in 1925 and, since then, the “double chevron” has had an important role in the history of the automobile in Spain. In total, Citroën has manufactured a total of 37 models in Spain, including the van version of the Citroën 2CV with which this saga began.

Currently, Citroën is the only automobile brand that produces vehicles in three different plants in Spain: Madrid, Vigo and Zaragoza. These are five strategic models for the brand, belonging to very diverse segments and representing six out of every ten registrations of the double chevron brand in the Spanish market.

The Citroën C4 models and its electric version, the Citroën ë-C4, are manufactured in the Center of Madrid. These are two medium sedans with aesthetic features and innovative features that stand out for their elegance, interior space and versatility.

The Citroën C3 Aircross SUV is produced in Zaragoza, a reference model in a fashion segment and which is in significant demand. In Vigo, the production line for the Citroën Berlingo has been located for almost a quarter of a century, a commercial, multi-purpose vehicle with a large load capacity. Finally, in Galician lands the Citroën C-Elysée is also assembled.

The figures for the Citroën Made in Spain concept are revealing. Almost 1.5 million units have been produced in Madrid, around 530,000 units in Zaragoza and 11.3 million in Vigo. Currently, more than 60% of the Citroëns sold in Spain are manufactured in Spanish territory, but there is another determining fact: more than 50% of the parts used are also made in Spain, with the participation of more than 300 companies.

One of the large companies that supplies parts for the production of Citroën is Edscha-Gestamp, a Spanish multinational born in 1997 that has a production center in Astillero, Santander. Its staff exceeds 500 employees and the production area has more than 25,000 m2.

As a technological and global provider, Gestamp manufactures 390 million parts a year, a wide range of products that are integrated into the vehicle body and define its structure. In the case of Citroën, it supplies parts associated with door hinges, sliding doors, spare wheel supports or handbrakes.

It also has a Mechatronics division, in charge of creating products to increase comfort, such as automatic side sliding doors, automatically opening tailgates. All Gestamp products must meet two fundamental keys: performance and security.