China’s love affair with crossovers and PSA’s desire to expand in the country has led to a logical conclusion; why not a crossover for the Citroen DS line, one that PSA is trying to push hard as a premium alternative to the usual upscale offerings?
Sized like a BMW X3, the DSX, as the crossover concept is known, will be built at PSA’s Wuhan, China, factory, and will join two other models (likely large sedans) as part of a DS expansion for China. The big question for us at TTAC is whether the DSX is the first manifestation of the new EMP2 modular platform.
While some outlets suggest that the DSX’s nature as a China-oriented product may mean that it is built off existing technology, TTAC feels that this is an inaccurate prediction. For starters, Wuhan is earmarked for an EMP2 product in 2014. Furthermore, PSA’s current crossover technology is essentially borrowed from Mitsubishi, and can’t even support hybrid technology. A DS5 Hybrid might serve to underpin the DSX, but why launch your next onslaught of product with already dated technology?
Gosh I love that floating pillar at the back. This is a slick looking car.
AFAIK the DSX is based on the Peugeot 2008, which shares it platform with the Peugeot 208. So it’s dated technology, but to be fair the EMP2 platform doesn’t replace PSA Platform 1.
MM, thanks for that. Got any links? I thought the DSX was a fair bit bigger than the 2008 and therefore might be an EMP2 car.
PSA have just released a new mid size crossover based on the Mitsubishi ASX – could it be a version of this?
http://carscoop.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/new-citroen-c4-aircross-psa-second-take.html