As the Paris motor show of 2018 prepares to open its doors, visitors to the same event in 1948 were astonished and aghast in equal measure at the unveiling of the first new post-war Citroën model, the diminutive 2CV or Deux Chevaux.

Most of the quarter of a million visitors to the Paris salon de l’automobile 70 years ago left with polarised views of the newcomer, for the 2CV was a car that could never provoke a neutral response.

The origins of the 2CV date from the instigation of the company’s Toute Petite Voiture (soon abbreviated to TPV) project in 1936.

As the story goes, Citroën’s then vice-president Pierre-Jules Boulanger was travelling through a rural district when he encountered a traffic jam of horse and carts, which led him to devise a car that would be within the financial means of the average farmer.

The criteria were that the TPV should have room for a quartet of adults and 50kg of luggage, low maintenance costs and removable seats, as the intended customer would probably use the TPV to convey livestock from time to time.