Fabricados en España

(Made in Spain)

Key dates
1924: creation in Madrid of SEAC (Sociedad Española de Automobiles Citroën), which had as its objective the import and sales of vehicles of the mark in Spain (from 1919, private entrepreneurs had imported vehicles that they bought in France).
1958: creation of the company Citroën Hispania and the launch of the factory in Vigo which initially produced utility vehicles derived from the 2CV. In 1977, this company absorbed SEAC and created the subsidiary Citroën Hispania S.A.
2001: creation of Automóviles Citroën España in 2001, as a result of a reorganisation of the Group.
2012: the core services of the brand in Spain were integrated into the structure of PSA Peugeot Citroën Ibérica.

In April 1958 Citroën, responding to the high tariff barriers that protected Spain's domestic auto-makers, established the Vigo car plant in Galicia.  As in many countries, imported cars were taxed at a higher rate than domestically produced vehicles and this led many manufacturers to build cars in strategically important markets.  Local regulations usually required that a certain percentage (by value) of a car must use domestically produced parts and components and labour. Vigo was the chosen location because it was both a port and a free port.  Transactions that occur within a free port are generally not subject to local taxes which facilitates the export of products.
Citroën Hispania started trading in April 1958 in some old customs warehouses but then moved to its current location in Balaídos in August 1959. The initial workforce was around 100 workers.
The 2CV AZU van was the first car to be produced by Citroën Hispania in Vigo. The first 25 vehicles took a month to manufacture and were exported to Morocco.
Production totalled 400 vehicles in the first year of operation.
The 2CV berline was added to the product range in late 1959.
In 1960, production reached 3,600 vehicles and the workforce exceeded 500. Three years later, total  production of the AZU, 2CV and H van exceeded 19,000 vehicles.
The second half of the 60s and the first half of the 70s was not a good time for the company despite introducing new models such as the Dyane 6 and Méhari.  The majority of production was for the domestic market where demand had fallen and this coincided with the arrival in Spain of new manufacturers. 

The oil crisis in 1973 had special impact on the automotive industry. In Spain, rising unemployment and inflation  together with social conflicts following Franco's death should have created more problems but paradoxically, the factory achieved its best ever results. The introduction of the Spanish-built Citroën GS was the major factor. By 1975, 110,000 units had been produced  and the workforce increased to more than 6,000.
In 1975 Peugeot acquired 90% of the capital of Citroën and created the PSA Group. From this time on the Group's plants produced models from both brands. 
In 1977 the first Peugeot vehicle (504) was manufactured at Vigo and inn the 1980s, the Peugeot 505 was added followed by the Peugeot Partner where it was built alongside the Berlingo in the 1990s. 
The 1980s were characterised by the modernization of the plant and introduction of fully robotised welding.
Alongside the Peugeot 505 the CX and the commercially succesful Citroën Visa, Citroën BX, and Citroën AX were built.  The success of the C15 van (with more than one million being produced) was a turning point in Vigo's industrial activity and it participated in the design and subsequent evolution of this model.
Spain joined the EEC in 1986 and as a result import tarifs on goods imported from other EEC countries were abolished.  This opened up the Spanish domestic market to foreign manufacturers.
In addition to commercial vehicles, the factory built Citroën ZX (517,484 units between 1991 and 1997) and Citroën Xsara (247,705 units between 1997 and 2000).
During the first decade of the new millennium, factory production doubled helped by the introduction of the Berlingo and Partner, and the Citroën Xsara Picasso which was introduced in 1999 and represented another success for the Vigo plant.  The Xsara Picasso was produced only in Vigo. Subsequent models such as the C4 Picasso and C4 Grand  Picasso have built on this success.

Citroën also has a factory in Madrid which in 1978 was incorporated into the industrial structure of PSA Peugeot Citroën.