Un garage éphémère pour dépanner les 2CV en panne

Why is the French 2CV called “deux chevaux”?

The “deux chevaux” or 2CV is one of France’s most iconic cars, the bare-bones Citroën that put the postwar countryside on wheels. The funny part for learners: the “two horses” has nothing to do with engine power. “CV” here is chevaux fiscaux — fiscal horsepower, a French tax bracket based on engine size, not real horses under the hood.

French drivers still talk about a car’s chevaux fiscaux when working out registration costs. The 2CV’s tiny twin-cylinder engine landed it in the two-horse tax class, hence the name. Fans gave it warmer nicknames — la deuche, le deux-pattes — and abroad the Germans called it Ente (the duck) while Brits dubbed it the “tin snail.”