Pardon My French: The DS5 Is Here, Really
Remember how our man in Brazil became infatuated with the “anti-retro” Citroen DS line? Remember the DS5 pictures Herr Niedermeyer found? Well, here is the production version. And a chance to polish your French.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
The exterior would be fairly normal looking if not for those chrome stripes on the hood which I don't really like. Just make them optional. Citroen manages to make all those gadgets and buttons interesting to me without the garishness of some Honda or Acura interiors, aimed at the younger generation, with their emphasis on electronic brightness screaming at you from all over the dashboard. Having a car with lots of buttons (think the older Tourareg, all backlit at night) appeals to me more than the integrated, all functions on one screen panels designed to reduce clutter. All these details have got to cost a lot of money to make even for a higher-priced vehicle. No bean-counting here. So, as GM used to promote, do more toys equal more luxury?
It's a beautiful car. I like the overall lines a lot, and the wheels are awesome, though directional designs like that would probably make rotating the tires a pain (or maybe not, perhaps I'm not seeing an obvious solution to keep them all pointing the same way). The interior is incredible - what a great idea to put texture in the pads on the leather, and that added to the metal accents by the headrests makes it all look very classy. Exhaust tips integrated into the rear bumper need to migrate to all car designs, they're an instant way to make a car look $10K more expensive. I saw a Suzuki Kizashi on the road the other day with integrated exhaust tips, and the car wowed me from a styling perspective.
Did anyone else notice the seats are styled to look like a metal wrist watch band. Nice touch. I was amazed at how many different design elements were packed into this car without looking overwrought. Not bad.
I'm out of time. That's why I'd simply call the design overdone. Sadly, Paul Bracq ia out of time and out of design business, too. Wonder, what he would have done.