The 2cv van and the Spanish economy 1958 – 1978

Part 2 of my blog series is published in time for Constitution Day, December 6th 2024

When the Spanish government issued the 1957 decree (called a BoE) announcing the start of a Citroën production line in the Galician city of Vigo, it was the beginning of a revolution in transport for small businesses: bakers, grocers, dairy farmers, motor mechanics, in all sizes of settlements, from cities to small villages across Spain. As tourism grew in the 1960s and 1970s into an engine of the Spanish economy, vehicle production, construction and industry also grew exponentially. I have explained in Part 1 of this series how I experienced the arrival of the 2cv van in Ibiza in a grocery shop where I worked in 1965. Now I shall examine the wider picture.

*Citroën AZU vans in production in Vigo in 1958*

The 2cv van had already been in production in France, with very few basic changes since 1951, and the model produced in France from 1958 through the 1960s was the AZU van. The 2cv four door saloon was also produced at Vigo for the small but growing Spanish private car market – also fed by production of the Seat 600 – but the AZU van was essential in the growth of small businesses in the developing economy of the late years of the Franco dictatorship (the period of tardofranquismo) characterised by the gradual upturn of the economy and celebration of the “25 Years of Peace” – 25 Años de Paz – in 1964 (the civil war ended in 1939). It is not an exaggeration to say that the Citroën AZU van was one of the great symbols of Spain’s growing economic success – in fact Europe’s fastest rising economy – which would pave the way for Spain to join the European Economic Community after the death of Franco in 1975 and the restoration of democracy with the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

*“Amelie” my AKS400 – built in Vigo in *1974* – at home with my donkeys*

In my lived experience, Spain has gone from a country where it was common to see donkeys, mules and horses pulling carts; then through the 1960s and 1970s growth of motor transport and popular ownership; to this point in 2024 where the economic giants of the European Union such as Germany and France are teetering on the brink of political uncertainty, while Spain has achieved a position of economic reliability and relative political stability.

Let’s be clear: I am not attributing the entire success of the Spanish economic miracle to the Citroën production line in Vigo! Nevertheless, I am confident that the AZU van and its later versions, the AK250 and the AKS400, played a very important role in this period, both in concrete and symbolic terms. Between 1959 and 1970 the Vigo plant in Pontevedra manufactured 106,005 AZU vans. Between 1967 and 1978 it built 196,037 AK/AKS van versions. There were also over half a million 2cv saloons which continued in production until 1984. The “Dyane” version of the AK van (Akadiane) continued in production alongside other Citroën models but was gradually phased out, as seen below in this late 1970s photo of the Vigo production line.

About 80% of overall production at the plant was for export, so we can estimate that 20,000* AZU vans and 40,000* AKS vans entered the roads of Spain over a twenty-year period from 1958 to 1978.
(* I calculated these figures myself and would be glad if anyone could quote a more informed authority: I have not seen a breakdown of export percentages by vehicle type.)

Many vans were exported to South American countries like Argentina and Chile, which are closely connected in trading with Spain, and there are today thriving associations of 2cv enthusiasts in these countries, where these classic vehicles are prized. Good examples of the van models are harder to find because their commercial use – carrying loads with a small underpowered engines on rough roads – shortened their useful life.

*1960s 2cv van abandoned in a dusty workshop.*

How many examples of old 2cv vans may exist hidden away in dusty corners of factories and businesses in Spain? The workhorse of the 1960s/1970s Spanish economy needs a 2cv equine sanctuary! Hopefully, the October 2024 law simplifying the registry and testing of historic vehicles in Spain will encourage more people to restore classic Citroën vans and get them back on the road. Meanwhile they still turn up in some odd places in Spain, as the following video shows.