19/06/2008 05:36. The popularity of Citroen vehicles is based on the firm's novel designs, which exemplify French style and sense. While enhancing user-friendliness and continually developing cutting-edge designs, the French company is positioning itself as one of Europe's leading eco-friendly automakers. In this ninth installment in a series on the world's high-end brands, Citroen President Gilles Michel speaks with Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent Hiroyuki Nakamura about future strategies.

Born in 1956, Michel graduated from Ecole Polytechnique, one of the world's most prestigious engineering universities, and worked at the World Bank as an industrial economist before joining Saint-Gobain, a major French glassmaker, in 1986. He held a succession of key posts at Saint-Gobain until 2002, when he joined the... // The Daily Yomiuri