Celebrating 100 years of the Black Cruise: the 2024 Green Cruise stops in Meyrueis, with Henri-Jacques Citroën

The Citroën Ami will cross Africa using solar energy. DR – Maarten van Pel

In October 1924, André Citroën launched an expedition to Africa by car: the Croisière Noire. 100 years later, this Wednesday, October 16, 2024, the Citroën Ami set off from Paris for the Mondial de l'Auto, for a green cruise this time. It will stop at the Malafosse garage in Meyrueis this Saturday, October 19 at 10:30 a.m. André Citroën's grandson, Henri-Jacques Citroën, will be there. 

This Saturday, October 19, 2024, the Croisière Verte, the Citroën Ami expedition to Cape Town in South Africa, imagined by Éric Vigouroux (entrepreneur and former rally-raid driver), will stop at the Malafosse garage in Meyrueis around 10:30 a.m.

Henri-Jacques Citroën, grandson of the brand's founder, will deliver a speech to pay tribute to him and will take a trip down memory lane, notably by recalling the Croisière Noire, launched in 1924 by his grandfather to cross the entire African continent for the first time by car.

A challenge

Pierre Giraud, whose grandfather created the garage (now Malafosse) where he himself later worked, will be present on Saturday. According to him, this cruise represents a real "challenge", that of showing that it is possible to drive solely on solar electricity, up to 200 km per day at an average speed of 45 km/h.

In fact, the four cars taking part in the expedition have been given a range of 250 km (compared to the original 70 km) to achieve this. “It's a nice tribute to the man I call the car man of the last century. It happened in my old garage, so I'm happy to support them. The presence of Henri-Jacques Citroën adds authenticity to the event, especially since he looks a lot like his grandfather physically,” he was moved.

Light and sustainable mobility

The official departure of the expedition will be given on October 28, 2024 from Ouarzazate (Morocco) after several stopovers in France, 100 years to the day after the departure of the Croisière Noire, an additional way of paying tribute to André Citroën and his Cruise.

The objectives are numerous: to make Ami cars known, to encourage vocations among the younger generations, to push new energies to their limits, or to explain the virtues of light and sustainable mobility.

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