DS Automobiles: Stellantis' French Premium Brand Since 2009

DS at a glance

The Citroën DS behind the name

The original DS was a Citroën saloon. The DS 19 was shown at the Paris Motor Show on 6 October 1955, and 12,000 orders were taken on the first day. Flaminio Bertoni, an Italian sculptor, and the aircraft engineer André Lefèbvre created the shape and the engineering, and Paul Magès developed its hydropneumatic self-levelling suspension. It was the first mass-produced car to combine that suspension with disc brakes. Citroën built 1,455,746 DS and ID cars in six countries up to 1975. In 1962 a DS carried President Charles de Gaulle away from an assassination attempt at Le Petit-Clamart despite two punctured tyres. The car is covered in Citroën DS history and specifications.

The letters made a pun: DS sounds like déesse, goddess, and the cheaper ID like idée, idea. Citroën used the name again four decades later for a premium line.

A Citroën line, 2009–2014

The DS Inside concept appeared at the Geneva Motor Show on 5 February 2009, and the production DS3 was launched in January 2010. It used the floorpan of the Citroën C3 and was sold as a three-door hatchback and, from 2012, a convertible. Its 1.6-litre THP petrol engine reached 154 kW (207 hp) in the DS3 Racing of 2010, with a top speed of 235 km/h. The DS4 followed in 2010 and the DS5 in 2011.

The DS3 sold well. Europe took 53,336 DS cars in 2010, 97,579 in 2011 and 117,374 in 2012, and in 2013 the DS3 held about 40% of Europe's premium small-car segment. China became a separate market: DS was split from Citroën there in 2012, and from 2014 the cars had their own dealers, built by the Changan PSA joint venture in Shenzhen.

An independent marque

DS became its own marque on 1 June 2014, with Yves Bonnefont as chief executive. In Europe the separation came with the DS5 facelift of 2015, and the facelifted DS3 of 2016 lost its Citroën badges. DS Store showrooms opened in China in 2014 and in Europe in 2015.

The first car designed for the new brand was the DS 7 Crossback, presented on 28 February 2017 and shown at the Geneva show that March. Built in Mulhouse on the EMP2 platform, it had petrol and diesel engines of 95.6 kW (130 PS) and plug-in hybrids of up to 272 kW (370 PS) in the E-Tense 4x4 360. Emmanuel Macron used a DS 7 Crossback at his inauguration on 14 May 2017, the first time a French president used an SUV for the ceremony. The DS 3 Crossback of 2018 followed with an electric E-Tense version of 100 kW (136 PS) and a 50 kWh battery; it was renamed DS 3 in 2022. The DS 7 is described in DS 7 Crossback specifications and E-Tense versions.

Sales, China and retreat from markets

Growth did not last. Worldwide sales fell from about 129,000 in 2012 to 52,860 in 2017. China fell fastest: from 26,008 cars in 2014 to 427 in 2020. The Shenzhen plant went to the Baoneng Group in May 2020, and DS announced its withdrawal from China at the end of 2023. It also left Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia in 2022 and Ireland, South Korea and Singapore in 2024. European sales held between about 43,600 and 52,600 a year from 2019 to 2023.

Compared with 2012, European sales in 2023 were 68,930 cars lower, a drop of about 59% on these figures. The brand's owners changed in the same period: PSA Group from 2015 and Stellantis from 2021. Beatrice Foucher led DS from 2020, Olivier François from 2023 and Xavier Peugeot from 2025.

Formula E

Racing was used to promote electric drive. DS Performance, the competition department, entered Formula E with Virgin Racing in 2015–16 and finished third. With Techeetah, DS won both the drivers' and teams' championships in 2018–19, Jean-Éric Vergne taking the drivers' title. In 2019–20 the team won again, with António Félix da Costa as champion. After the Techeetah partnership ended in 2021–22, DS Penske raced from 2022–23 and finished third in 2023–24. In March 2026 DS announced it would leave Formula E after the 2025–26 season, in which the team was ninth with 91 points; Taylor Barnard won the final race.

The numbered electric cars

A new naming system began with the DS N°8, unveiled on 12 December 2024 and built in Melfi, Italy, from April 2025. DS says the number eight stands for balance and serenity. The car is fully electric, and DS says aerodynamic work adds about 60 km of range. The concepts that led to it included the DS E-Tense of 2016, the DS X E-Tense of 2018 and the E-Tense Performance of 2022. The DS 7 is due to be replaced by the DS N°7.

Who a DS suits

A DS suits buyers who want a French premium car with distinctive interiors and a choice of plug-in hybrid or electric drive. The DS 7 E-Tense 4x4 is the strongest plug-in, while the N°8 is the long-range electric choice. Buyers outside Europe should check dealer support, because DS has left several markets since 2022. Other electric models are compared in the electric cars section, the current range is in the DS catalogue, and the founding brand's story is in the history of Citroën.

DS timeline

Landmark DS models

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