FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: DS 4 Crossback

The DS 4 is a Citroen no longer — at Frankfurt, the DS 4 cut its ties to the double chevron brand founded in 1919, to join the youngest French car brand, PSA’s DS.

The original 2011 DS 4 confused many — not quite a hatchback, it was not quite a SUV either. Moving forward, the French premium marque will offer the MY16 DS 4 as both — a regular hatch-back model and a high-riding SUV called the Crossback.

It’s the latter Australia is most likely to see when the DS 4 arrives in 2016. The Crossback’s 30mm higher ride height, wheelarch brows and black-out treatment for the front, rear, mirror shells and roof rails should lend the vehicle some additional all-terrain cred.

For the time being, local importer Sime Darby is still mulling it over and is yet to lock down pric-ing.

DS displayed a very special DS 4 Crossback Concept at Frankfurt. Ostensibly, the same as produc-tion cars around it, the Concept showcased special materials DS has indicated it may use in the future. These included crushed stone finishes on roof rails, mirror caps and wheels and threaded steel inserts for the seats.

The DS 4 is the second model to undergo a visual renewal. Gone are the grille’s gentle upward waves that hint at the Citroen double chevrons; instead there’s a hexagonal theme (reminiscent of the DS Numero 9 concept) and with a prominent central DS logo.

In Europe, the new DS 4 hatch will be launched in October with six engines: one PureTech 1.2, two THP 1.6s turbocharged petrols and three BlueHDi turbo-diesel alternatives. The DS 4 Crossback will have a choice of four engines: two petrol and two diesel. DS says that engine outputs are improved and fuel consumption is significantly reduced.

The new DS 4 gets a seven-inch colour touch screen for vehicle functions such as navigation and music and reduces the central stack button count by 12, according to DS. The touch screen incorporates Mirror Screen, a function that duplicates Android or iOS smartphone content to the dashboard screen.

The vehicles will also offer a wider personalisation palette than before. A choice of four roof col-ours (Perla Nera black, Whisper, Virtuel blue, Tourmaline orange) and spoilers (with their associated trim: door mirrors and wheel hub caps) combine with existing paint colours to produce 38 colour combinations, DS says.

Full coverage from motoring.com.au at Frankfurt motor show here

More photos from Frankfurt motor show in motoring.com.au gallery