Citroen luxury offshoot DS is in for the long haul

On most vehicle launches, the combined PR and management machinery will confidently intimate that the latest model should be a sales success; after all, there’s no point being in the game if you don’t believe your next product should improve the bottom line.

The story for Citroen’s DS brand offshoot is more strategic.

“We’ve been very realistic with DS,” Citroen Australia PR and Communications Manager Tyson Bowen told motoring.com.au, following outgoing General Manager John Startari’s outlining of a ‘stagnant’ DS sales forecast despite the introduction of the updated DS 5 flagship.

“We’ve had to make the hard calls on product now, to benefit the brand in the future,” said Bowen. “It would be easy to add models and make small [sales] gains now, but we are aiming for the longer term.”

The pain is being felt in the short-term, with Citroen Australia choosing to take only the manual variant of the recently-refreshed DS 3, for example.

“We could have continued with the auto, but it was the older engine and it was only a four-speed,” he said.

“We’ve aimed to put our best foot forward, rather than allowing too many options,” Startari said.

“There is a new 1.2-litre, updated automatic DS 3 available in other markets, which we are very interested in, but it won’t arrive this year,” said Bowen, adding that Australia is waiting on advice from France in terms of available equipment specification before anything is confirmed.

Compounding this is the depletion of DS 4 stock ahead of facelifted model including a new Crossback version.

“Prior to the update in Frankfurt, the DS 4 didn’t really know what it was. It was somewhere between a hatch and an SUV.

“With the new car, we have two distinct options: the hatch or the Crossback. We need to ascertain which will work better in the Australian marketplace, a decision that will probably occur in the first quarter of next year,” said Bowen.

Both vehicles will lose the Citroen chevrons to mimic the DS 5’s move away from Citroen badging, with the aim, according to Startari, of achieving the brand’s ambition to revive French premium vehicles.

“We aim to have six global DS vehicles by 2020,” he added, indicating that showrooms – although sharing space with existing Citroen franchises – will have greater DS separation by this time.