We’ve been following a possible U.S.-market launch of PSA Peugeot Citroën’s upmarket DS brand since late last year. Today, such a launch is more probable than ever, as we’ve been told by PSA sources that a move into the U.S. market is “necessary” and that it would likely happen within the next few years.
-DS is the company’s upscale brand, spawned from a lineup containing the Citroën DS3 minicar, the DS4 premium compact, and the DS5 crossover station wagon. Initially planned to be a range of upscale Citroën models, it has morphed into its own brand with a separate logo.
-In Europe and China, DS has resonated with and become a hit among a specific set of buyers: individualists, intellectuals, and customers who are immersed in the culture of art and architecture. Typically, these customers prefer to avoid the mainstream and they don’t want to drive the same car as their neighbor; therefore they tend to avoid brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz.
-In the past, Europeans of this ilk had a lot of choices. They would flock to Alfa Romeo, Lancia, or Saab, or they would choose the top offerings from Peugeot or Renault. But Saab is gone, Lancia has virtually disappeared, and Alfa Romeo, Peugeot, and Renault currently don’t make premium cars. With DS, Citroen is moving directly into this niche.
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In North America, the challenges are considerable, as DS will need a good dealer network and a massive marketing campaign. Having deserted the U.S. market in the mid-1970s, Citroën (and by extension DS) is an unknown quantity among a massive swath of buyers here, and virtually no one knows the classic Citroën DS, for which the DS brand is named.
-That car, launched 60 years ago, sent shock waves through the automotive industry. The original DS set new standards in aerodynamics, comfort, and user interface, and it made every other car look old and obsolete. Appropriately, its name was pronounced “Déesse,” which is the French word for “goddess.” The French philosopher Roland Barthes praised it as “a messenger from the supernatural.”
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The DS remained in production for two decades, when it was replaced by the similarly futuristic CX. By then, however, Citroën had fallen under the ownership of Peugeot, and the brand was no longer in charge of its own fortunes. From the 1990s onward, Citroën lost its edge. And for a while, it seemed that in the larger context of the PSA conglomerate, the iconic French carmaker would be relegated to the status of producing cheaper versions of Peugeots.
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Today, DS is on track to become a true premium brand with an entire family of models. Perhaps not as revolutionary as the historic DS, the new vehicles still represent a remarkably different and stylish choice among their peers. While there is still a lot of water to cross both literally and figuratively before we see DS in the U.S., we’ll admit that it would be refreshing to see new French cars plying American roads once again.
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