DS is preparing to launch a brand new flagship electric car to begin a new era of it selling only plug-in hybrids and EVs.
Spotted winter testing ahead of its launch in early 2025, the DS 9 replacement wears a high-riding fastback body, similar to fellow Stellantis brand Peugeot’s new e-3008 crossover.
Its roofline is more rakish than that of the future-looking Aero Sport Lounge concept, which was described by DS design chief Thierry Métroz as “a prelude to our next creations” and a “manifesto” for more sustainable luxury cars.
It's expected to be the first of two new DS models entering production at Stellantis’s factory in Melfi, Italy, 2025 and will be twinned with the successor to the Vauxhall Insignia.
All models being produced at Melfi will use the STLA Medium platform, which made its debut under the e-3008. This provides a strong hint at the specifications of the new DS EV.
The platform is for cars between 4.3m and 4.9m long, meaning it could underpin the replacements for every model in the DS line-up bar the DS 3, which would have to use the STLA Small architecture.
STLA Medium allows for EV power outputs between 215bhp and 382bhp, utilising either a single motor mounted at the front or a motor on each axle (providing four-wheel drive).
Currently it offers battery capacities of up to 98kWh, yielding up to 435 miles of range. The e-3008 also offers a 73kWh (usable capacity) pack that delivers 326 miles between charges.
However, these figures are subject to change, as energy density improves with developments such as new battery chemistries.
Energy efficiency, rather than outright performance, will doubtless be the priority for the new DS.
Former DS CEO Béatrice Foucher previously told Autocar that the silhouette of this next model, striking a compromise between a hatchback and an SUV, was meant to “provide the best energy management”.
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Stellantis is trying to juggle too many brands, all jostling with each other in the marketplace, and with no obvious pecking order.
As an owner for the past six years of a DS3 (the Citroën C3 based model), the problem for the brand isn't so much the cars, withe the current range being a stylish alternative to the likes of Audi, but the utterly lacklustre approach to aftersales. Apart from a few staff members who try to offer a premium product service, for the most part booking something as simple as an annual service is a miserable experience.
Just yesterday I tried to book my car into my local Stellantis DS dealer- for London we are down to a single dealer in West London, and speaking to the central booking line which also covers Peugeot and Citroën, the experience was absolutely dreadful! Owing to a broken leg it may be that I would need my car collected and delivered back for its annual service and MOT, a service which should be fairly normal with a 'premium brand' wax met with what i can only describe as a 'can't be bothered, couldn't care less' attitude by the agent. Maybe this would be fine for the owner of a small used six year old Citroën or Peugeot customer, but was a million miles.from an Audi BMW or Mercedes customer. As for the supposed collection and delivery service available to DS customers, there was absolutely no chance, it simply didn't exist! In the hope of recovering from my injury, and not needing the work carried out till mid March, I asked about a courtesy car - the responce from the utterly disinterested agent was - 22 April (long after the MOT had expired)!
Maybe given my car is just a Citroën C3 restyled and rebadged i shouldn't be surprised, but if i were a customer of a more expensive current model, let alone a DS9, i would be feeling pretty sick at plowing that much money into the brand.
For context, my DS3 is my everyday runabout, and i also own a premium brand car. I have been a Jaguar customer for twenty years, and then a Maserati customer for seven years; in mid '22 I switched to an EV from the new to the UK Genesis marque, in the shape of their Electrified G80 (I have tosay best car I've owned, and at around £80k some 10 grand less than the equivalent rival the Mercedes EQE), and the standard of aftersales service is the best I have ever received, with the service staff all keen to help resolve any issues, in fact the polar opposite to the agent I spoke to yesterday.
Until Stellantis can get the quality of customer facing staff up to something approaching its rivals, no one will want to buy any of their cars, or if they do bitterly regret the decision!
With all the random activity of the motor industry at present, with too many conflicting, untargeted and indistinguishable models and brands, mostly that nobody wants, it is reminisent of the early days of the industry. It will be interesting to see what survives and remains if it ever becomes focused and stable, which I doubt.