Photo: SB-Medien
This is a story about the all-new DS4, and about half of it is going to be us venting about where Citroen is going. It's not that we don't have enough information to flesh out the new car; we genuinely don't know what's going on.
The revival of the DS started out great. The DS3 was a worthy alternative to the MINI Cooper, as proven by how common that little hatchback became. But after that, it all went south. DS Automobiles was spun off from Citroen and it launched two failures.
There was the premium DS5 MPV, which we thought was interesting, but arrived at the wrong time, and the DS4, which looked too much like a Citroen C4 with a body kit. There were lots of other problems with it too, mainly in the back. Getting in was impossible, the windows wouldn't wind down, legroom was zero and the trunk was small.
After just four years in production, the DS4 was discontinued. But in 2016, French media learned that a successor was planned. Codenamed the "Projet D41", this was supposed to arrive at the end of 2020 as a crossover, which is roughly how we know what we're dealing with here.
The spyshots point towards a redesigned version of the 2021 Citroen C4, seen only a month ago. This too is a small crossover with a sloped coupe-like roof. But as with the old DS4, designers have been allowed to go crazy with the fripperies - 3D effect in the taillights, flush door handles and narrow headlights.
The prototype boasts aero-style wheels with a hidden exhaust muffler and no upper front grille, so we think it's a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. The PSA conglomerate already has several of these powertrains, mainly based around the 1.6-liter turbo, but they could use the smaller 1.2-liter here.
However, if that's the case, it's hard to tell who this crossover is for. DS has mainly targeted the French market, but that's already dominated by Renault. Plug-in hybrids only make sense as company cars in Europe right now, but little crossovers like this mainly attract young women who are unlikely to splurge or go directly for the better established Range Rover and BMW models.
There was the premium DS5 MPV, which we thought was interesting, but arrived at the wrong time, and the DS4, which looked too much like a Citroen C4 with a body kit. There were lots of other problems with it too, mainly in the back. Getting in was impossible, the windows wouldn't wind down, legroom was zero and the trunk was small.
After just four years in production, the DS4 was discontinued. But in 2016, French media learned that a successor was planned. Codenamed the "Projet D41", this was supposed to arrive at the end of 2020 as a crossover, which is roughly how we know what we're dealing with here.
The spyshots point towards a redesigned version of the 2021 Citroen C4, seen only a month ago. This too is a small crossover with a sloped coupe-like roof. But as with the old DS4, designers have been allowed to go crazy with the fripperies - 3D effect in the taillights, flush door handles and narrow headlights.
The prototype boasts aero-style wheels with a hidden exhaust muffler and no upper front grille, so we think it's a hybrid or a plug-in hybrid. The PSA conglomerate already has several of these powertrains, mainly based around the 1.6-liter turbo, but they could use the smaller 1.2-liter here.
However, if that's the case, it's hard to tell who this crossover is for. DS has mainly targeted the French market, but that's already dominated by Renault. Plug-in hybrids only make sense as company cars in Europe right now, but little crossovers like this mainly attract young women who are unlikely to splurge or go directly for the better established Range Rover and BMW models.
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