As part of their recovery plans, Citroen is looking to turn DS into a standalone brand that not only offers totally different cars, but is also relevant on a global scale. They said that in a press statement at the beginning of the year and we thought they meant "in China". But we were wrong, as the newly appointed DS CEO Yves Bonnefont announced recently that US consumers will be targeted by 2020.
"Independent consultant" Patrick Jane drove an old Citroen DS in CBS's hit detective show The Mentalist. We've pretty sure that's about everything anybody knows about Citroen in America right now.
We're also pretty sure that DS "premium French cars" will sell about as well as Fiat's "cheap Italian sportscars".
Interestingly, Bonnefont says Peugeot could beat DS to the US punch, reaching showrooms in 2017 at the earliest, according to Autonews. It really will be interesting to see how vehicles designed to appeal to strictly to Europeans will work overseas. However, the company might have an ace up its sleeve: China.
More people in The People's Republic buy Citroens and Peugeots than in any other country in the world and it's for this reason that specialized models have been designed to appeal to local demands, demands that US consumers might also have. We're of course talking about the new DS 5LS large sedan and DS6 WR, which is an SUV.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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