This is the Citroën DS 5, their new flagship car that "carries all the genes of the DS brand" and is here "to revive the tradition of French premium vehicles." It's also a four-door hatchback.
I wouldn't go as far as calling PSA's idea to go back to America a plan. It's more of a dream at this point. However, North America is a very important market and French carmakers are clearly missing out big time by not challenging their competitors outside of Europe and China.
Citroën's luxury brand DS was launched back in 2009 and officially founded on 1 June last year. Their current range comprises DS 3, DS 3 Cabrio, DS 4, DS 5, DS 5LS and DS 6, with the latter two being Chinese-only cars. The French managed to sell 500,000 DS cars so far, but they'll have to do better than that in order to get the sort of money they need for an expansion.
Being a production model, the DS 5's styling is not as crazy as that of their show cars, but Citroën claims its still "a concept car on wheels with avant-garde, expressive, hypnotic styling that's a mix of refinement and technology". What's for sure is that buyers get a transparent roof and a cockpit designed around the driver with some added toggle switch goodness for the ultimate aerospace experience.
There's also a touchscreen interface with 12 fewer buttons on the dash than before and all the smartphone connectivity you always wanted.
All that comes with up to 210 horsepower.
As far as the safety stuff goes, it has the blind spot monitoring system, lane departure warning, automatic high beam, turning headlights, hill-start assist, stability control, traction control, a reversing camera and a head-up display.
The seats will massage you, and even your eyes can rest thanks to the ambient lighting while you enjoy the soundtrack provided by the Denon sound system. The DS 5 is a nice car to be in.
Any takers for this luxury hatchback?