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Zees ees ze DS concept, timed to coincide with the last auto show standing in Geneva. (I keed. TTAC will be in The Big Apple in April for the show and a meet.) The nouvelle DS builds on the aesthetic tradition established by the world’s most beautiful car, the original DS. Son of DS—just when you thought it was safe to worship an icon—relies on the same purity of form, startlingly simply but bold proportions, design originality and lack of affectation the made “Dessie” such a legendary design. And if you believe that, I’ve got a classically sculpted Lexus IS-F to sell you.
29 Comments on “New Citroen DS: a Kinky MINI mini-me?...”
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It’s Citroen’s version of Volvo’s “replacement” for the P1800.
It sure ain’t no Goddesse.
I would look forward to this “DS concept” if it does what it predecessor did.
A lot of people misinterpret what the DS was about. While it was a good looking car, it’s “raison d’etre” was turn the market on its head.
The DS, fundamentally, laid the blueprints for how modern cars would be. It had so much new technology, it made other cars on the market look obsolete.
If the new “DS” can do this, then, I will be excited. If, as I suspect, it will be just a cheap cash-in on a fine model name, then, Citroen will have just cheapened their name.
Incidentally, here’s a link to a short film about the Citroen DS by Top Gear. It’ll surprise you*.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ppe3vjZXoM
* = and by “surprise” I don’t mean it’s a link to goatse or a rickroll.
I like it.
I wanna see a new Citroen 2CV concept.
I don’t see the revolutionary styling in there, compared to the original DS. It looks like any other Citroen out there today, really.
It’s not bad, but certainly suffers from comparisons with the DS.
Looks like Citroen needs better marketers: using an iconic name for a range of vehicles is a BAD idea. That thing doesn’t look like a DS at all, and it actually detracts from its intrinsic qualities.
Yep, I wouldn’t use the DS name on this hatch. It looks good though.
The DS looked long and sleek; it was nicknamed “the shark”. This thing looks bulky and fat, as if it were some mini-jeep. If Citroen wants to resurrect the DS, it should look like the original DS, but updated.
Why call it a DS. I looks like a Mini. They could have made a Retro looking DS, and it would probably sell incredibly well. They could have done what KatiePuckrik said, and build something entirely new, that shakes up the car world and would be a worthy successor too. Who will buy a Mini with legendary French reliability.
I heard about the renaissance of the DS moniker a few days ago, and I must say I was thrilled.
Good Lord, was I in for a disappointment. The DS was one of the 20th century’s design icons (and I don’t just mean car design), and it was a technological tour de force that was lightyears ahead of the competition. It’s also my all-time favourite car, incidentally. The new “DS” is a dull, small-car parts bin raid that has absolutely, positively, rien to do with the original. Why on earth the Citroen management thought it would be a sound business proposal to piss on one of the most wonderful cars ever sold is beyond me. (The fact it’s one of the fugliest vehicles I’ve seen in my life doesn’t help.)
And now the veil is removed from the recent polling which determined the DS to be the most beautiful car, ever.
Too bad that the interest that PR stunt may have piqued is paid off with this Mini/Kuga mash-up.
Though this is the first of three (?) reputed DS variants in the pipe.
If they really were trying to recapture the essence of the DS Citroen’s marketers wouldn’t have to tell you by calling it the “DS”. Just when cars could use another visionary design like the DS to point the way forward, we’re handed yet another cynical attempt at cashing in on retro-capital.
Incredibly stupid use of the DS name.
I hate it when they reintroduce legends in a handy pocket-size.
The mini-Mustang’s of the 70’s they called the Mustang II.
The Cimmaron that insisted it was too! a Cadillac
And now, an under-inflated DS.
Have you no shame, Car Marketers? At long last, have you no shame?
I like it. But I’m also one of the few (apparently) that’s not so keen on the original DS, although I find the engineering interesting. I’ve never been a fan of Citroen’s designs, so this is a first for me. However, calling this a DS is admittedly blasphemous.
I think it looks great for such a small car. Much more rugged than a Mini. Kinda like the unholy union of an A6, Ceyenne and Mini. Would look awesome in tarmac trim in the WRC.
Of small cars, I like the Mini because it looks proportioned. Too many small cars of today look un-proportioned to me. I know they do it to maximize space, but to me the car ends up looking bulky, or fat, or too tall, or like some some sort of baloon on wheels. The new Fiat 500 too looks proportioned. A lot of the other small cars, not so much. Ditto for the one shown here.
PSA must be in some dire straights if they’re willing to dilute the DS name on this generically riced out new MINI knockoff.
You know this design was sitting around as a possible C2 replacement when some idiot said “Hey, instead of calling this the C2 concept, why not ruin the legacy of our most well revered car and call it the DS.”
The DS was technologically revolutionary and had a design that was brilliant in its mix of beauty and purpose.
This car is neither of those things. It has a busy, derivative design. Technologically it is simply the same unibody, transverse front engine hatch that has been available since the original Mini was introduced in the late 1950s.
If anything is an heir to the DS it is the C6. But as well designed and technologically advanced as that car is Citroen still had the good sense not to put the DS name on it.
This is what I imagine a Mitsubishi Eclipse looks like coming out of the car crusher.
What is with the silly swish of chrome or whatever that is at the bottom of the doors? What purpose does this serve on a tiny car like this?
I was worried this would happen. What a revolting development.
Stop it, Citroen! Idiots.
The original DS shows the positive potential lurking in the auto industry.
It’s busy and gimmicky and certainly nothing ground-breaking like the original DS. For those reasons alone it doesn’t deserve the name.
If they were trying to pay homage in some way, I could find nothing to remind me of the original. The only thing that came close was the separate-looking roof panel. From 3/4 rear (and ignoring the “spoiler”), the roof looks as though it could have been lifted from the DS, but only if it’s done in a contrasting color (I’m grasping here).
They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Don’t they know that God(dess) is sacred?
It’s not a bad design, it is simply derivative. “DS” stood initially for “Desirée Spéciale” (“Déesse”, the pronunciation of the two letters, is much too apposite to have been an accident). The car above doesn’t provoke any special desire – I’d have it, maybe a used one, if I couldn’t find anything better at the time. It seems, though, that an extraordinarily capable design team is doing something sort of nice, which is not what extraordinarily capable design teams should be doing.
I will change my mind if the suspension on this new DS is an outgrowth of the Xantia Activa’s ground-breaking electronically-controlled hydropneumatics.
Will it have a single-spoke steering wheel?
You’re cute, but you’re no DS.
KatiePuckrik, thank you for this wonderful film:
Incidentally, here’s a link to a short film about the Citroen DS by Top Gear. It’ll surprise you*.
Sorry, Citroen, not feeling the “DS” in this design.
Putain! Ils ont fait un bordel!