DS Automobiles is a French
luxury vehicle
A luxury car is a car that provides increased levels of comfort, equipment, amenities, quality, performance, and associated status compared to moderately priced cars.
The term is subjective and reflects both the qualities of the car and the ...
marque which was introduced in 2009. Formerly part of
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
, DS has been a standalone brand since 2015 (2012 in China).
DS can be an abbreviation of Different Spirit or Distinctive Series, although it is also considered a nod to the classic executive car
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS () is a Front-mid-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front mid-engined, front-wheel drive executive car manufactured and marketed by Citroën from 1955 to 1975, in fastback/sedan, wagon/estate, and convertible body configurations ...
. The name is also a play on words, as in
French it is pronounced like the word ', meaning "goddess".
History
The
PSA Group
The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...
originally consisted of three automobile brands,
Peugeot
Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis.
The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...
,
Citroën
Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...
and the soon dropped
Talbot
Talbot was an automobile marque introduced in 1902 by English-French company Clément-Talbot. The founders, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury and Adolphe Clément-Bayard, reduced their financial interests in their Clément-Talbot ...
, but none was considered a "premium" brand. Since 1976, PSA has experimented with differentiating the brands by price level, similar to
Chevrolet
Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...
/
Buick
Buick () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American marques of automobiles, and was the company that established General ...
or
Volkswagen
Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
/
Audi
Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide.
Th ...
, but neither brand had the strength to justify
premium pricing
Premium pricing (also called image pricing or prestige pricing) is the practice of keeping the price of one of the products or service artificially high in order to encourage favorable perceptions among buyers, based solely on the price. Premium re ...
. By launching the DS line, Groupe PSA decided to build on the design heritage of the original Citroën DS (1955–1975) designed by
Flaminio Bertoni Flaminio Bertoni ( Masnago, Italy, 10 January 1903 – Paris, France, 7 February 1964) was an Italian automobile designer from the years preceding World War II until his death in 1964. Before his work in industrial design, Bertoni was a sculptor.
W ...
and
André Lefèbvre
André Lefèbvre (19 August 1894 – 4 May 1964) was a French automobile engineer.
André René Lefèbvre was born in Louvres, Val-d'Oise, Louvres, France (North of Paris, Val-d'Oise, Val d'Oise). He began his career as an aviation engineer wor ...
.
The DS line started with the
Citroën DS3
The DS 3 (formerly known as Citroën DS3 and DS 3 Crossback) is a luxury supermini initially produced by the French automobile manufacturer Citroën and officially launched in January 2010. This was the first and entry-level model from the D ...
in the beginning of 2010, a small car based on the floorpan of the new C3. The DS3 is based on the concept of the
Citroën C3
The Citroën C3 is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by Citroën since April 2002. It replaced the Citroën Saxo in the model line up, and is currently in its third generation. The third generation model made its appearance in June 2016, and ...
Pluriel model and the
Citroën DS Inside
The DS 3 (formerly known as Citroën DS3 and DS 3 Crossback) is a luxury supermini initially produced by the French automobile manufacturer Citroën and officially launched in January 2010. This was the first and entry-level model from the D ...
concept car, and customisable with various roof colours that can contrast with the body panels. It was named 2010 Car of the Year by ''
Top Gear Magazine
''Top Gear'' is a British automobile magazine, owned by BBC Worldwide, and published under contract by Immediate Media Company. It is named after the BBC's ''Top Gear'' television show. It was first published in October 1993 and is published m ...
'', awarded first supermini four times in a row by the
J.D. Power
J.D. Power is an American consumer research, data, and analytics firm based in Troy, Michigan. The company was founded in 1968 by James David Power III. It conducts surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality, and buyer behavior for the aut ...
Satisfaction Survey UK, and the second most efficient supermini (Citroën DS3 1.6 eHDi 115 Airdream: True MPG 63.0mpg) by ''What Car?'' behind the
Citroën C3
The Citroën C3 is a supermini car (B-segment) produced by Citroën since April 2002. It replaced the Citroën Saxo in the model line up, and is currently in its third generation. The third generation model made its appearance in June 2016, and ...
.
In 2013, the Citroën DS3 was again the best-selling premium subcompact car with 40% of the market share in Europe. The DS series is deeply connected to Citroën, as the
DS4, launched in 2010, is based on the 2008
Citroën Hypnos
The Citroën Hypnos is a concept mid-size luxury crossover produced by Citroën at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. It has a 5-door SUV body style and is powered by a diesel hybrid drivetrain with a rear axle-mounted electric motor. The car's most d ...
concept car and the
DS5, following in 2011, is based on the concept car of 2005, the
Citroën C-SportLounge.
According to
PSA
PSA, PsA, Psa, or psa may refer to:
Biology and medicine
* Posterior spinal artery
* Primary systemic amyloidosis, a disease caused by the accumulation of abnormal proteins
* Prostate-specific antigen, an enzyme used as a blood tracer for pros ...
CEO
Carlos Tavares
Carlos Tavares (born 14 August 1958) is a Portuguese businessman, and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Stellantis, the world's sixth largest automaker by sales, formed by the merger of the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. He was former ...
, DS would keep using the same platforms and dealerships as other PSA models, but would distinguish itself from Citroën cars by using "separate manufacturing and engineering standards".
Logo
The DS Automobiles rear badge is a new logo rather than the Citroën double chevron, and all have different styling compared to their equivalent Citroën car. This logo has been designed by Korean designer Jin Joo. Citroën produced several concept sports cars, with the fully working
Citroën Survolt being badged as a DS. A 2014 concept car, the
DS Divine, develops the Survolt prototype as the future sport coupé of the DS range.
China
In China, DS vehicles have been sold in separate dealerships since 2014. DS models for sale in China were produced by the
Changan PSA
Changan PSA (officially Changan PSA Automobiles Co., Ltd., informally CAPSA) was an automobile company headquartered in Shenzhen, China, a 50:50 joint venture between Changan Automobile and Groupe PSA. Its principal activity was the manufacture and ...
joint venture based in
Shenzhen
Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
until May 2020, when the factory was acquired by the
Baoneng Group
The Baoneng Group (legal name Baoneng Investment Group Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese property and financial services conglomerate controlled by Chinese billionaire Yao Zhenhua, China's 52nd-wealthiest person as of August 2020.
History
The first predec ...
. The DS 5LS and
DS 6WR
The DS 6 is a subcompact luxury crossover SUV designed by the French automaker DS Automobiles specifically for the market in Asia. It was the second model of DS, then a sub brand, to not feature the Citroën logo, following the launch of the DS ...
are only sold in China. With the facelift of the DS5 in 2015, the DS brand was also separated from the Citroën brand in Europe, and standalone DS dealerships are planned worldwide.
DS Store
The DS Store is the
dealership network of DS Automobiles. It was introduced in China in 2014, and in Europe in 2015.
Models
Current
*
DS 3 (formerly DS 3 Crossback)
*
DS 7 (formerly DS 7 Crossback)
*
DS 4
The DS 4 (Citroën DS4 before 2015) is a compact car, and it is the second model in the luxury DS sub-brand created by Citroën, now an independent brand. Starting in 2021, it is currently in its second generation, which is based on an all-new ...
*
DS 9
The DS 9 is an executive car introduced in 2020 by DS. The DS 9 is the company's first vehicle to be marketed to both Europe and Asia but assembled solely in China.
Presentation
Originally, the DS 9 (internal code X83) was to be unveiled in Apr ...
Discontinued
*
DS 3 (hatchback)
*
DS 4 (hatchback)
*
DS 4S
The DS 4S is a subcompact executive car designed and developed by the DS division of the French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën (later called Groupe PSA). It was unveiled on the 2015 Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Can ...
*
DS 5
The DS 5 is a compact executive hatchback which was designed and developed by the French automaker Citroën, and launched in the market in Europe in November 2011. It was the third model in the premium sub brand DS. Released as the Citroën ...
*
DS 5LS
*
DS 6
Concept cars
* Citroën C-SportLounge (2008)
*
Citroën Hypnos
The Citroën Hypnos is a concept mid-size luxury crossover produced by Citroën at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. It has a 5-door SUV body style and is powered by a diesel hybrid drivetrain with a rear axle-mounted electric motor. The car's most d ...
(2008), occasionally shown with DS emblem
* Citroën DS Inside (2009)
*
Citroën REVOLTe (2009)
* Citroën DS High Rider (2010)
*
Citroën Survolt (2010)
* Citroën DS4 Racing (2012)
* Citroën Numéro 9 (2012)
* DS Wild Rubis (2013)
* Citroën DS3 Cabrio Racing (2013)
* DS 5LS R (2014)
* Divine DS (2014)
* DS 3 & DS 3 Cabrio Ines de la Fressange Paris (2014)
* DS 4 Crossback (2015)
* DS E-Tense (2016)
* DS X E-Tense (2018)
* DS Code X (2019)
* DS Aero Sport Lounge (2020)
*
DS E-Tense Performance (2022)
Gallery
Citroën Wild Rubis (01).JPG, 2013 DS Wild Rubis
Festival automobile international 2015 - DS Divine - 002.jpg, 2014 DS Divine
2016-03-01 Geneva Motor Show 1078.JPG, 2016 DS E-Tense
DS X E-Tense, Paris Motor Show 2018, IMG 0235.jpg, 2018 DS X E-Tense
DS Aero Sport Lounge Concept Auto Zuerich 2021 IMG 0094.jpg, 2020 DS Aero Sport Lounge
Sales
Motorsport
Formula E
![36 Andre Lotterer at Lung Wo Rd, Man Yiu St (20190310170401)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/36_Andre_Lotterer_at_Lung_Wo_Rd%2C_Man_Yiu_St_%2820190310170401%29.jpg)
DS partnered with Sir Richard Branson's
Virgin Racing
Virgin Racing (subsequently Marussia Virgin Racing) was a Formula One racing team which was under management of Manor Motorsport, Wirth Research and Richard Branson's Virgin Group and competed in with a British licence and in with a Russian ...
team for the second season of the
FIA Formula E Championship
Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is a single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The series was conceived in 2011 in Paris by FIA president Jean Todt and Spanish businessman Alejandro Agag, who is ...
. The team competed under the title of
DS Virgin Racing
The Envision Racing Formula E Team is a British motor racing team based at Silverstone Park and majority-owned by Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Envision Energy that competes in Formula E.
Currently, the two drivers are Nick Cassidy and Sé ...
, and finished in third place in the 2015/16 season, and fourth in the 2016/17 season.
For the
2018–19 Formula E Championship
The 2018–19 FIA Formula E Championship was the fifth season of the FIA Formula E championship, a motor racing championship for electric vehicle, electrically-powered vehicles recognised by motorsport's governing body, the Fédération Inte ...
, DS moved to partner with
Techeetah
DS Techeetah (, ) is a Sino- French motor racing team under ownership of SECA - China Media Capital that competes in the electric racing series, Formula E.
Formula E
Team Aguri principal Aguri Suzuki announced he would leave the team in April 20 ...
, ending its relationship with Virgin. The newly renamed DS Techeetah, using the DS E-Tense FE 19 powertrain, won both the drivers and teams championships with
Jean-Eric Vergne becoming Formula E's first two time drivers champion.
This feat was repeated in the following season with
António Félix da Costa
António Maria de Mello Breyner Félix da Costa (born 31 August 1991) is a Portuguese professional racing driver for the Porsche Formula E Team and the 2019–20 Formula E Drivers' Champion.
He won the Macau Grand Prix invitational Formula Thre ...
becoming driver's champion and DS Techeetah winning the teams title for
2019–20.
References
External links
*
{{Automotive industry in France
Citroën
Stellantis
Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 2009
French companies established in 2009
Luxury motor vehicle manufacturers
Car brands