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Full disclosure: since the age of 12, I’ve inexplicably been a devotee of all things Citroen. As such, I was a bit excited that a DS revival would appear at the 2009 Geneva motor show.
Having seen the concept earlier this afternoon, I can say this: ceci n’est pas une DS.
Contrary to what emblems and press materials may say, this simply isn’t a DS – in any sense of the term. Although they may have been quirky, the DS’s design was lightyears ahead of other cars. Indeed, upon your first encounter with a DS (or its stripped-down sibling, the ID), you can’t help but lose yourself while admiring its sultry shape.
Such instant infatuation doesn’t occur with the DS Inside. Walk inside Citroen’s dimly-lit room, and you’re presented with a car that resembles the love child of a C3 Pluriel and a Mini Cooper S. Although it’s less ugly in person than what press photos may suggest (thanks in no small part, I presume, to Citroen’s strategic lighting), it carries none of the visual gravitas of the original car. When the DS was launched in 1956, crowds excitedly gathered around it for hours on end. Today, people simply meandered out of its private viewing room with no visible sign of emotion.
Perhaps it is a bit unfair to compare this, the smallest version of the forthcoming DS range, to the legend, but that’s a comparison that will forever be performed so long as the DS nameplate is applied. I’m fearing that this may be a tremendous marketing blunder on Citroen’s part – couldn’t this car simply be sold as a designer-edition C2 or C3?
Although I hope the two future DS sedans will be as revolutionary as the first, I’m now fearing for the worst. To Citroen? Bonne chance.
