Geneva 2016: DS E-Tense scales up the surprise

When the first pictures of DS’s electric Geneva show car first appeared, we were a little underwhelmed, as they appeared to show a fairly close clone of the Audi R8, mixed with a little Lexus in the grille. We also were left in the dark as to what the car’s interior might hold.

However, having now seen the E-Tense in all its lurid green glory, there’s plenty more here to digest and enjoy than those first pictures originally suggested.

For a start, although the E-Tense is similarly proportioned to an R8, it looks lower and meaner, thanks mostly to the fact that there’s lots more plan shape in the DS’s rear, while that Lexus-esque grille simply serves as a welcome introduction to the parametric design theme that dictates the look of the interior.

The lamps are worth singling out, too, with each bejewelled LED rotating in unison, including a full 180 when you switch on the car – a surprise and delight detail we wonder if we might see as a DS signature in production.

Swing open the door and you’re greeted by a door card clad in green leather and stitched with yellow thread in a way that gives the effect of reptilian scales. This is repeated across the IP, where the scales curve up to meet the leading edge of the IP, meshing with metal supports that spring from the dash top, providing an elegant mounting point for the infotainment screen.

The graphics for the gauge pack are neatly done, too, appearing quite technical, but rendered in such a way that they almost look hand-drawn and organic, in-keeping with the reptilian scales that slither around the cabin.

We’re still not sure about the name, but there’s plenty more elements to this concept than the first pictures might have suggested – an interior that looks capable of breathing fire or shedding its skin being one of them.