L'Auto-Journal

L'Auto-Journal is a bimonthly magazine created in 1950 by Robert Hersant and editor-in-chief Gilles Guérithault, devoted to automobiles. Notable journalists who have worked for l'Auto-Journal include Roland Gaucher and Jean-Marie Balestre. The headquarters is in Paris. The journal pioneered "automobile scoops". Famously, they published pictures of the radical new Citroën DS in April and June 1952, more than three years ahead of the car's October 1955 launch at the Paris Motor Show. Sketches of the future cars appeared, drawn by the car specialist and historian René Bellu. A further scoop picture, now showing the reconfigured rear roof-line as it would appear on the production cars, was published some two months ahead of its 1955 launch. Citroën reacted fiercely to L'Auto-Journal's scoops, accusing the magazine of industrial espionage. The police even raided the offices of the journal. Relations with Citroën remained difficult for some years, while the motoring press more generally reacted by routinely describing Citroën as "famously secretive". L'Auto-Journal was also the first magazine to test cars in France under the everyday conditions likely to be encountered by drivers.