, for French luxury design, DS models to date have all danced around the themes and theory of high-end creativity without ever quite connecting.
For a country with countless couturiers, designers, architects, and jewellers to its name, France has never really had a modern-day equivalent to Rolls-Royce, Cadillac, or even Mercedes-Benz. Yes, there’s Bugatti, founded by an Italian, based in a part of Germany that became French in 1919, and then German-owned ever since its revival in 1998.
The DS 9 is the company’s new flagship model. Against all economic wisdom, it is a saloon car, not an SUV. Here is where the debate over design begins, for the DS 9 is not an especially beautiful car. For sure, it has fine proportions, but beauty – and luxury – is in the details. Its sister car, the Peugeot 508, shares a lot of the DS9’s underpinnings, yet somehow manages to be more svelte and elegant. Later this year, the same platform will appear beneath the new Citroën C5X, which heralds a great return to form for that company’s fabled design story. , but the nose doesn’t carry any gravitas. The role of the automotive grille is undergoing a transformation; it’s not the signifier of status it once was.
Unfortunately, the DS range is currently wedded to the idea of a big, bold grille to anchor its Dalí-esque DS logo. Elsewhere, modern luxury is moving on.