Cicostar

Cicostar was the automobile marque of Cico SA—Chaudronnerie Industrielle du Centre-Ouest—formed at 52–54 Rue Léonard-Samie in the Magré et Romanet industrial zone of Limoges, France. Automobile production began in 1979 and ended with the company in 1984. Cico specialized in very small rear-engine vehicles intended for France's voiture sans permis or licence-free market, though the larger 125 cc Matic's precise licensing status is not documented. The original range contained two distinct layouts. An underdocumented three-wheeler used a rear-mounted 47 cc Sachs engine; no surviving accessible factory type name is secure, so the catalog calls it 47 cc Tricycle transparently. A four-wheeler used a rear-mounted 49.9 cc Motobécane engine and is independently identified as LC79. Both early vehicles are reported at 1,940 mm long, 1,120 mm wide and 1,440 mm high. An enthusiast museum labels one Cicostar as 1971, but that date conflicts with corporate history and period French annual coverage; it is treated as a caption error rather than extending the marque eight years backward. Later in 1980 Cico added the four-wheel Matic, also surviving under the Super Matic 50 name. Buyers could choose a 50 cc Motobécane or 125 cc Lombardini engine. No reliable source recovers whether Super Matic denoted a formal separate generation, which precise Lombardini engine was fitted, or how engine choices mapped to years, so one Matic / Super Matic family avoids fabricated duplication. The longer Starvan appeared in 1979 promotional material but remained a prototype; no series deliveries are evidenced. Cico's accessible record does not preserve founders, designers, construction material, seating arrangements, transmissions, outputs, top speeds, weights, braking/suspension, fuel capacity, prices, homologation numbers, annual changes, production totals or a survivor registry. Initial-model withdrawal dates are also unavailable, so their rows use the disclosed 1979–84 corporate envelope without asserting continuous sale. Cicostar is distinct from Cico industrial names, Citroën, the Korean Istana/Starvan names and unrelated modern campervans. Four rows account for every defensible production and prototype family.

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