It was announced yesterday that the Citroën and DS Conservatory (a.k.a. Le Conservatoire) will close its doors on June 30, 2024. It will have to find another location to continue to accomplish its mission of preserving the heritage of the two French brands.
Services such as certification of vehicles will continue to be provided with- out interruption since they are done from different sites already today.
In reality, the closure of the Citroën and DS Conservatory has been likely for many years. On November 28, 2001 it took up residence on the site of the old Citroën factory at Aulnay-sous-Bois. The site, part of PSA Group since the merger with Peugeot, was acquired by the Etablissement Public Foncier d’Ile de France in 2017 and the Conservatory was allowed to exist not under a lease, but under a precarious occupation agreement — one whereby termination notice could be given at any time. This is precisely what happened. As the law allows, the lessor terminated this agreement without specific consultation, forcing the Conservatory to react quickly. In the immediate future, the company has stated that the approximately 300 vehicles will be moved to be kept in a safe place while waiting for a suitable location to bring this extraordinary collection to life. (We believe there are close to 600 vehicles presently in the Conservatory.)
What this really means for its future in Stellantis is unclear at this point. As the company attempts to transition to EVs, deals with the onslaught of cheap Chinese vehicle imports and with a CEO that came from Peugeot to head the organization, funding to preserve the legacy of Citroën may not be a high priority.
Originally, there was no welcoming of the public in the Conservatory, only to preserve and promote the heritage of the Citroën brand. Then with DS being established as new and separate brand in 2014 and to embellish it’s Citroën heritage, it was decided to make the Conservatory publicly accessible, initially by organizing appointment visits and eventually through general admission ticket sales.
Could June 30 be the last day we get to see the Conservatory collection intact? Loïc de La Roche, general manager of L’Aventure Peugeot-Citroën-DS has only indicated that a temporary storage location should be located in Ile-de-France. Public reception will cease after June 30, 2024 for a period of three to four years before the realization of a museum project already in progress.
Might it be that the Citroën and DS Conservatory collection will be rolled into L’Aventure Peugeot, created in 1982 on the initiative of Pierre Peugeot, chairman of the supervisory board of the PSA group? In 2015, the association added Citroën and DS Conservatory, becoming L’Aventure Peugeot-Citroën-DS, exhibiting the brands at three sites; , the L’Aventure Peugeot museum in Sochaux and the now due to close Conservatoire Citroën & DS in Aulnay-sous-Bois.
From the news yesterday one can take away that anything beyond temporary storage for the Citroën and DS Conservatory collection is pretty much up in the air.
Update — June 17, 2024: HubNut took a walkaround at the Citroën Conservatoire before it closes and recorded this video in it’s last state at Aulnay-sous-Bois:
Look what Stellantis did with FIAT: https://www.fcaheritage.com/en-uk/heritage/places/heritage-hub
Are they planning something similar with PSA? Realize that it’s a huge operation.
Rumours say that several years ago the ownership of the entire collection was transferred to the Peugeot family.
This was done since they were expecting the Chinese were going to take over PSA and Peugeot was afraid to loose the Conservatoire…….
I have a 1987 Citroen CX Turbo Prestigue 2 . I was told told to clean a relay to get in running again. I have a 10 mile view of the Hudson River and a closer view of the Sing Sing prison. I am giving a free room and board to anyone who can get this car running for the next Citroen event. I may pay half your airfare or the full amount depending. My telephone for what’s app is 646 430 0628