DS Automobiles is not ruling out reviving the Citroën DS in an electric version, its boss Olivier François disclosed at the Chantilly Arts & Élégance, a concours event held in the French gardens of the Château de Chantilly on on Sunday.
The premium brand of the Stellantis group presented the SM TRIBUTE an electric prototype inspired by the original SM launched in 1970.
As is typical from any announcement by DS Automobiles, no mention of the Citroên name was made — only the model was referenced.
“We could have offered you something inspired by the 1955 DS, that’s what everyone is waiting for,” said Olivier François, Director of DS, Fiat and also marketing director of Stellantis. “I think that this is exactly the direction in which we will have to go. We are working on it. We will do it, but not right away, We are showing you through the SM what we will do through the DS.”
The DS Automobiles brand, launched by PSA Group in 2014 prior to being merged into Stellantis, is still struggling ten years later to make a place for itself in the high-end market, facing its German competitors such as BMW and Mercedes. It registered just 20,706 cars in Europe in the first half of the year, a drop of 20.8% over the same period in 2023.
DS Automobiles plans to renew its range with three new models, including a new “flagship”, a large electric sedan with a range of 700 kilometres.
The brand also intends to improve on the criterion of “customer satisfaction” (product quality, sales, maintenance) as it wants to convince buyers looking for “peace of mind”, in terms of comfort, silence but also electric autonomy, Mr. François stressed.
Some elements of this new SM will apparently be carried over to the DS flagship model: a glass plate covering the headlights across the entire front, with an illuminated logo, and a very aerodynamic body that improves autonomy.
Olivier François plans to offer “cars that are much more rooted in the brand’s timeless DNA”. “In a world of all-electricity, where the Chinese are arriving, where Tesla has established itself as a new leading brand, we must try to offer something fresh, captivating, but by seeking out what all the brands I just mentioned do not have: history, DNA, the romantic, iconic and artistic side”, he said.