On December 3rd, 2018, one of the great assets of Citroën history left us: Jean-Paul Cardinal at the age of 78.
Born on 5 March 1940, Jean-Paul began after his training as a 17 -year-old in September 1958 at Automobiles Citroën and worked there in production. Early on, he discovered his passion for vehicle development and in 1959 moved to the “Bureau d’Etudes”, the design and prototype department of Citroën, where he worked as a technician, interrupted by his military service with the French Navy ( 1960-1962). Among other things, he worked on the latest versions and developments for the Panhard CD.
From 1964-1969 he worked as an instructor in the Citroën Training Center for the in-house automotive technicians – his linguistic eloquence and his technical competence led, among other things, to the “Projet MEP” (and later also the successor “MEP X2”) entrusted: his engagements in this new category caused a stir among his superiors. The passion he was able to impart to others meant that he was responsible for the relationship with technical education and, in addition, the automotive industry, to whom he could provide technical details about Citroën’s innovations.
Thanks not least to his expertise and dedication, the technical journals and journals of his epoch contain extensive essays on exactly how “zero steering wheel radius”, hydropneumatics, steering assistance, etc. function – even among others. the German magazine “Hobby” benefited from these remarks. Many readers – and potential new customers! – understood the technical unique selling propositions of the Citroën brand and then made their brand and purchase decisions: the activation of the buyer groups functioned differently then …!
From 1986 to 1989 he was deputy director of public relations Citroën, and from 1990 to 2000 then overall responsible for the various departments, which were divided as follows: product press, international press, sports press, press reviews, technical communication, relations with universities, schools and other educational institutions, and not least responsible for communicating with clubs and Citroën collectors who led us to him.
Jean-Paul Cardinal was the President of Club Citroën France from 2004 to 2006 and thus remained closely associated with the scene.
We are mourning the loss of one of the greats, to whom the international fan base has much to thank.
Merci pour tout, Jean-Paul!
It’s sad, but I didn’t know that he was a Citroenvie member