The DS brand will drop the Citroën badge in Europe next year and aims to be challenging Audi by 2020, according to PSA chairman Carlos Tavares.
Speaking to Autocar Tavares said: "From 2015 DS will be disconnected from Citroën. We don't need to have separate platforms, or even separate dealers, but we will have separate manufacturing and engineering standards".
The aim is to match the appeal and exclusivity of Audi by the next decade. "DS can be an Audi rival by 2020. The products in the pipeline are extremely exciting but we are not just going into premium as we're not going to be fighting the Germans with the same weapons.
"We want to convey a French sophistication, trendiness and the French way of life. The Germans can't do this and we'll see some concept cars that will back this up."
DS brand boss Yves Bonnefort has already admitted that the company will expand from three to six models in the coming few years, including a luxury saloon for China, the DS9, an SUV and, possibly a Fiat 500 rival for Europe.
At next month's Paris motor show it will unveil the Devine DS show car, previewing a new look. Tavares, however, is keen to stress that the brand won't be looking for Audi-style sales volumes.
"We have to be patient about sales and I don't want to measure success in this way. We'll measure it in per unit profit and making huge margins. This is a long run 20 to 30 year story," he said.
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@pauld101
@Mini2
Another fact based opinion...?
Norma, I personally drove many, many tens of thousands of miles in Rolls-Royce Spirits, Spurs, Turbo R's, Continental R's and Azures during the period 1987 - 1998 (as they came along). During this time my wallet remained completely un-melted and I suffered not a single suspension-related issue. Could you detail why you believe them to be 'generally unreliable'?
Brave, but too soon?
As for the rest of Citroen's range, it isn't exactly the strongest. The C4 Cactus is certainly a good sign of their future direction, but the current C3, C4 and C5 are all trailing the competition by some margin. People bemoan the lack of hydro suspension in today's cars, but if people had bought those while they had the chance and the press hadn't complained about 'floaty handling', then maybe Citroen would have had more confidence to continue down that route. The C1 will no doubt continue to sell well (as does the C3), but I think they need to plough more energy into the C-line of cars if they're to freeze DS off from it any time soon. It took time for Lexus to properly establish themselves, and I'm not convinced that the whole 'Infiniti' thing has worked, judging by how few I see both on the roads and in terms of Infiniti dealerships.