Are you sure about that, Dragi? I seem to recall that the 2CV had considerably less power than that -- something in the neighborhood of 18 horsepower?

Oh, they started at 12HP and less than 400ccm, but all three I owned were late model ones with, IIRC, 21kW, which would translate to 28HP (this was the 602ccm engine that went into Diane and first models of Ami6

Regardless, the 2CV is a true milestone, one of the best cars ever made. I think it would not be improper to put the 2CV into the same exalted category as the Model T Ford, and the original Volkswagen. These were machines that quite literally changed the world, bringing incredibly reliable transportation to the masses at affordable prices.

Indeed. From the aspect of affordable transportation one could perhaps add small Fiats (at least here in Southern Europe), but not from the technological one. All three cars you mention were technological breakthroughs (especially Ford of course, then Citroën). Actually, Citroën was remarkably innovative company from thirties to sixties. Both Traction Avant (thirties, front wheel drive, automatic transmission) and DS (fifties, self-leveling hydro-pheumatic suspension, electronically controlled ignition, Cd=0.34) were at least a decade before their time, but managed to force their way to the market. (There was no shotrage of revolutionary cars that never saw mass production - e.g. Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion)