Re-shuffling the deck
“There are quite enough ideas for new automobiles. But we want to re-shuffle the cards,” says Vincent Besson, director for brand strategy and Peugeot and Citroen. With their DS the French car maker created a first automotive icon. In 2009 the ‘DS’ badge was given new life with the ‘Concept DS’ project, heralding a complete new model range and without any nostalgic look back to the ‘Goddess’ of old. In special ‘DS Stores’… and in major urban conglomerations in ‘DS Worlds’… the autos are to be displayed quite apart from other Citroen models in highly sophisticated environments. Envisaged by the French car maker is even a ‘Premium Club’ with exclusive services such as VIP cards.
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- After the 2009 concept car ‘DS Inside’ the next step was the creation of the DS3 model to challenge the Mini, here seen in its top ‘DS3 Racing’ variant.
Avantgarde looks and premium values
Citroen also want to replicate the success formula of the Mini marque, although without the retro ‘heritage’ argument and the implicit sporting ambitions but by concentrating on avantgarde styling and the allures of the premium segment. Citroen have made their start with a rival to the Mini in the form of the DS3. Thanks to the cooperation of the PSA concern with BMW the DS3 has in fact the very same power plant as the Mini. 135 thousand units of this model have so far found buyers and sixty percent of these have never before owned a Citroen car. A third of the customers have gone for the top ‘SportChic’ version, meaning attractive profit margins for the dealers. The four-door DS4 arrived in the showrooms in May this year and Citroen hope to sell forty thousand units of this model annually.
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- The DS5 aims to please in particular with its well appointed interior.
Risky model designations
For Paolo Tumminelli, professor at the for Design in Cologne and formerly stylist at the Alfa Romeo ‘Centro Stile’, the DS strategy is a two-edged sword. “In point of fact Citroen has made amazing progress over the past ten years and has been coming out with fresh, individualistic and interesting automotive designs. And so I see it not as disrespectful to badge the new Citroen design direction with the historical ‘DS’ identity” says Tumminelli. However the designation is not without risk… “On the one hand there is no connection between the historical and iconic models and the new ones. On the other hand… given that each new car in this range will be a ‘DS’… it is inevitable that ‘DS’ will just be seen as an abbreviation like the ‘i’ from Hyundai. DS3, 5, 6, 7 begins to sound a bit like BMW”, according to Tumminelli.
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- “Our benchmark for the qualities of the interior has been Audi”, admits Pierre Monferrini, DS5 project manager, quite readily. Citroen is sourcing the materials used inside the car from suppliers in the , in and in . It is noted with pride that the leather comes from cattle raised in Bavaria.
Audi qualities inside
Up to now the most convincing model in the range is the DS5, which the French also aim to build at the rate of forty thousand per year. “Our benchmark for the qualities of the interior has been Audi”, admits Pierre Monferrini, DS5 project manager, quite readily. Citroen is sourcing the materials used inside the car from suppliers in the United States, in England and in Germany. It is noted with pride that the leather comes from cattle raised in Bavaria. “The special challenge is to deliver premium quality in mass production”, says Oliver Daillance from Citroen’s colours and fabrics studio.
Comfort problems
In one important area Citroen have not managed to get everything working as it should… the driving comfort. All DS models have stiff suspension settings. In the case of the DS3… meant to compete with the Mini… this can be seen as fitting the overall concept. But the same is not true of the luxury cruiser DS5 which is frankly insensitive when it comes to dealing with bumps in the road. Nor have the engineers really been successful with the steering which gives a rather synthetic impression. In terms of driving dynamics the DS models are not yet on par with the models coming from Audi and others. This is the case also with regard to the sluggish automatic transmissions and the automated six-speed gearbox which exhibits annoying gaps in power delivery.
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- Citroen also want to replicate the success formula of the Mini marque, although without the retro ‘heritage’ argument and the implicit sporting ambitions but by concentrating on avantgarde styling, the allures of the premium segment and the wide scope for personalization.
DS as premium sub-marque
The DS models are not only intended to extend the Citroen model portfolio in the direction of premium but also are to stand as a new sub-marque of the concern… in particular in the increasingly important Chinese market. As of 2013 there will be cars rolling off the assembly line in the Far East as a result of a joint venture with Changan, including versions especially developed to take into account local preferences. “We will market the autos under the badge ‘DS by Citroen’. There will be separate dealer networks… one for the normal Citroen models and another for the DS range”, says DS5 project head Pierre Monferrini. DS customers should not see their cars as primarily associated with the marque Citroen, but as stand-alone products. This thinking is also behind the initiatives of other car makers who are establishing new brands just for China, where many clients are first-time auto buyers not fully familiar with the major established marques.
The importance of China
For the professor of automotive design Paolo Tumminelli the DS presentation in is an experiment which could prove successful. “What we have here are people who have never seen or even read about an ‘automotive Goddess’ and who can interpret ‘DS’ as an abbreviation of ‘DeSign’. Then it makes a lot of sense to the Chinese. They are far from able to comprehend the milestones of the DS heritage and will have no affection for the models of the past… they have no education in terms of western culture”, explains Tumminelli.
