Very balanced in its proportions, it was the first model designed especially for women. It was a great sales success, with more than 80,000 units produced, at a time when the liberalisation of women was just beginning.
André Citroën’s idea was to redirect this car to a female audience, which was highly unusual at the time. In fact, all the advertising material for the 5HP depicts the car being driven by a young woman. Its cars could also be bought on credit, a new method for the time, thanks to a consumer credit company founded by André Citroën himself.
This popular little car included an innovation designed for safety and comfort, a small manual windscreen wiper. Its inventor was Mary Anderson. During a trip to New York in 1902, Mary Anderson noticed that the driver of her tram had to continually stop and get off to clean dirt and water from the windscreen. She quickly realised that with a little ingenuity this could easily be solved, and soon contacted a local designer and company to manufacture the rubberised metal arm device she had devised.
