Paris 2016: DS revisits its history, and this time we don’t mind
With no new cars to show at the 2016 Paris Motor Show, DS digs out some design classics from days gone by
It’s taken PSA quite a bit of time to fully commit to hiving off DS as a brand in its own right. As a result, we’re still waiting to see the first fully-fledged DS-branded cars, although we’ve seen some tidy concepts to get our appetites suitably stimulated. That also means that the DS section of the PSA stand in Paris would be rather bare, were it not for the firm looking at some of its greatest hits from the design back catalogue and displaying them on the show booth.
You’re greeted by a model of the original DS, floating on a slender pillar. The 2/5-scale model was made in 1959 by Citroen apprentices, with the facelifted front being added in 1968.
On the wall are prints of exterior and interior sketches of modern concepts. However, look a little harder and you unearth gems by Robert Opron of alternative front masks for DS Safaris and neat little package drawings that really catch the eye.
But it’s the case of models that are truly impressive, hand-made and honed with great skill by some masters of the car-design craft – hopefully a little of the magic seen here will rub off on what’s to come from DS proper.
DS 19 modelled in carbon fibre for the car’s 50th anniversary in 2005
Wooden design model by Michel Harmand, 1964
Proposal by Robert Opron called Premice L, 1963
Plaster and wood model by Henri Dargent, 1958
Model from the design centre of the Hippopotame from 1949
Design model of the DS by Joan Giret and Robert Opron, 1960
Coupe proposal based on the DS by Flaminio Bertone, 1958