by George Dyke….
Mr. Yves Bonnefont, General Manager of DS (Citroën’s new premium brand ) said in his speech presenting the DS Divine concept, that the new model ‘Divine’ will be available in North America. It is part of Citroën’s plan to sell the ‘DS’ in 200 of the world’s largest cities.
Times change… Just 2 years ago I wrote to PSA Peugeot Citroën about the possibility of returning to our market. Their response was that they have no plans to return to the Canadian or US market. There were rumors a few years ago that they might come back, but their focus has been on profit and gaining a decent market share of the growing Asian market. They concluded that the North American market is not significant enough for them to import cars and support a dealer network. But with a new CEO comes a new direction…
One has to wonder if re-establishment in North America will be another half-baked effort reminiscent of Citroën’s attempt here in the late 1950’s and ’60’s. They will have some stiff competition from other renewed entries with established dealer channels. Alfa Romeo, supported through Chrysler/Fiat comes to mind…
The DS brand may have French style, but the technology underneath is nothing special. They may brand it as a DS, but any similarity to the original DS is not there for those of us that are purists. Sure, there will be some people who want to be DStinctly different and the French in Montreal might buy it but it will most likely be fairly pricey and will there be a decent dealer network, like the other competitors, to support it. Or maybe they take the “Tesla approach” with just a showroom in prime retail space and a regional service facility in an industrial area. Question is; will DS Devine be enough so that buyers will flock to it rather than offerings from brands firmly established on these shores?
We put the question to you: Would you be prepared to purchase a modern DS car if it was available here? Respond to this blog and let’s see what interest there is from our “classic” Citroën community.
I’ll start: Will I be buying one? – No, but good luck and keep smiling.
Depends on price and reliability 🙂
When the DS was first introduced into the market place, so many were sold without any test runs and many spent more time in the service centres than being on the roads, but hey people still bought them!
No.
Yes,
I would buy it as my daily driver, it would be driven in all seasons greetings.
I’d rather have a Cactus!
I drive a ‘regular’ car now, and Audi A4 Avant. I’ve owned BMW and still have a KIA Koup. Having resigned myself to non-innovative cars for my daily driver I would consider buying a modern Citroen DS, but don’t know enough about them yet. That said, I don’t believe Citroen is concerned with us ‘purists’. They have to reach a broader market of people who never heard of the brand before. With our style focused society it would not surprise me to see them sell, especially with higher prices. Higher prices will take them out of the competition with the Asian brands where reliability and low price/feature set are important. I welcome them back, but do hope they are serious in their approach.
I would not buy a DS bling car. But I would be very interested in the Cactus.
Criminettlies! Merde Alors! First Alfa comes back, now Citroen! Forward, into the past. I’d sure like to see and drive the DS, just to have a car that’s different from the usual bland and ubiquitous Lexi, Mercedes, and Audis.