After 60 years, Citroën’s legendary hydraulic suspension with the magic green spheres that were first seen on the iconic DS in 1955 is being phased out. The final model to have the oleo-pneumatic hydraulics is the current generation C5.
Nobody will forget the sight of a DS laboriously getting up like a sleepy camel, one end at a time. However, the system had “quirks” and was expensive to make.
The change from the unique system is clearly designed to help the company’s bottom line, as modern alternatives like MagneRide’s adaptive suspension technology is significantly cheaper to purchase.
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It is believed that the forthcoming DS will be launched as a premium brand (like Lexus and Toyota for example).
The CEO of PSA Peugeot Citroën, Carlos Tavares, revealed that the automaker may make a return to the U.S. market using its DS brand, a fledgling premium brand spun off from Citroën that at present only sells cars in China. “We want to make DS a global premium brand, and you cannot be global without the U.S.,” DS CEO Yves Bonnefont told an American magazine.
Bonnefont revealed that he and his team are looking to sell DS-branded cars in 200 large cities across the globe after 2020, and of these 200 cities 20 are located in the U.S. Bonnefont also revealed that a final decision on a U.S. launch for the DS brand would happen in 2017 at the earliest.
DS started off as a premium sub-brand of Citroën, drawing its name from the iconic line of DS models offered between 1955 and 1975. The current DS-branded cars are based on Citroën underpinnings but feature unique bodies and interiors. In some ways similar to the Henri Chapron Citroens such as the Citroën SM which was introduced in 1970, with Chapron creating two new variants – the Mylord cabriolet (7 made) and the Opéra four door sedan (8 made).
At the 2014 Paris Auto Show, DS rolled out a concept car based on its own platform and lacking the Citroën logo. Called the Devine DS, the concept was not destined for production but previews the themes that will feature on future DS-branded cars.
