DS encore: Help Design the next Citroen legend

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Citroen –- the Paris-based automaker that would, if it were a carbohydrate, be a croissant -– will unveil a three-year global re-branding initiative on Thursday, Automotive News reports. As part of a move to the upper-premium market, the initiative will resurrect the storied DS name, which was the company’s flagship model from the 1950s to the 1970s. The first vehicle -– the DS3, a small premium car -- is scheduled to reach the market by 2010, though it’s unclear if it will ever make it to the U.S. The DS3 concept will be shown at the Geneva auto show in March.

“We will offer products within the Citroen brand that have added value and carry elements of the premium sector,” PSA/Peugeot-Citroen styling director Jean-Pierre Ploue told Automotive News.

Ah, the DS. The only car to merit a contemplation by the great Roland Barthes. When the ‘Deesse’ debuted at the 1955 Paris auto show it was as if, in Barthes’ words, the DS had “dropped from the sky.” Designed by Bertoni, the futuristic DS’s strangely tapering, teardrop shape was both inexpressibly Gallic and highly functional, concealing the wider front track (the distance between the front wheels) that helped cancel out the front-wheel drive car’s tendency to under steer.

The DS was also a tour de force of engineering. It’s most remarkable innovation was the oleo-pneumatic (oil-air) pressure circuit that operated the steering, semi-automatic gearbox, brakes and suspension. The oleo-pneumatic pressure circuit -- pumped up by two powerful ‘accumulators’ -- provided automatic ride-height adjustment while giving the car a floating, luxurious ride. The suspension was also driver-adjustable so that, in the event of a flat tire, the driver could raise the car to its highest setting, prop the corner, lower the car and remove the wheel, all without a jack. Other innovations included road-following headlamps, fiberglass roof and boot panel, unstressed and removable body panels and a charming single-spoke steering wheel.

The oleo-pneumatic suspension is still part of Citroen’s engineering pedigree.

As I muse on what a 21st century DS would look like, I’m dubious that Citroen can improve upon, say, the DS 21 Pallas in any way. So let me throw it out to you young designers: Draw, sketch or otherwise render a proposed DS and post it to your Web page (MySpace, Facebook, whatever) and send us the link in the Comments section. I will then take the best to the Geneva Auto Show, where I will present them to Monsieur Ploue.

To prime the pump, we’re including some spectacular images of the DS through the years, as well as a quote from Barthes. Bon chance, mes amis.

-- Dan Neil

We are therefore dealing here with a humanized art, and it is possible that the Deesse marks a change in the mythology of cars. Until now, the ultimate in cars belonged rather to the bestiary of power; here it becomes at once more spiritual and more object-like, and despite some concessions to neomania (such as the empty steering wheel), it is now more homely, more attuned to this sublimation of the utensil which one also finds in the design of contemporary household equipment. -- Roland Barthes

1956 Citroen DS19

1972 Citroen DS21

Citroen DS19 Modele Italien

Citroen DS19 Cabrio

Citroen DS21

Citroen DS21 ID

1972 European Summit with Citroen DS21 as diplomatic cars

Photos courtesy of Citroen