Every day it seems Stellantis loses a little bit more of its grip on reality. Now, the struggling automaker says it wants its French luxury unit, DS, to rival the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley. Right now, it’s more of a BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz fighter, but these French loons have higher aspirations for the brand.
The automaker’s design director, Thierry Métroz sat down with Autocar at the Brussels motor show to discuss the future of DS as the company’s new flagship, the N°8, was unveiled to the public. He said the French automaker’s “dream is to be the Louis Vuitton of the automotive industry.” Good luck with that.
Here’s what he told Autocar:
Métroz said: “We are premium 1737506735 but our mission is to be more than premium. We would like to try to touch the luxury feeling.”
Métroz cautioned that this “takes time”, and despite it being a long-term goal for DS, the brand may never get there.
He continued: “It’s a lot of work, as the brand is very young. We only launched the brand in 2014. It probably takes more than 10 years, maybe 20 years [more] to have the positioning of a luxury automotive brand.”
On how DS could achieve “our dream”, he said: “We need to be very focused on the quality of the details.”
Métroz told Autocar the N°8’s interior is closer to Bentley than lesser Volkswagen Group brands, and that includes the materials DS decided to use.
“It’s a very luxurious interior,” he said. “Compared to our German competitors, it’s about the quality of the materials and the details of the interior. It’s a luxury taste.
“It’s not German for the interior; it’s more like Bentley. It’s not Bentley, of course, but the kind of inspiration is more Bentley or Rolls-Royce than Audi or Volkswagen.”
When asked how DS could provide cars with a true luxury feel when they use shared Stellantis architectures, Métroz said it was “hard” but the brand had the ability to change key parts of the underpinnings, such as lowering rooflines and pushing back the windscreen for different proportions.
Métroz added that he doesn’t see DS as a volume automaker like others in Stellantis’ fleet. Instead, the folks in charge “prefer to reinforce the positioning of the brand with the luxury feeling.” I don’t totally know what that means, but it does sound nice. I like a vibes-based automaker.
He also says DS needs to stand out from the crowd of Chinese cars that are entering Europe, saying that the Chinese copies of Porsche and Tesla “always look like a Tesla or Porsche.” Like many French automakers before, DS plans to stand out from the crowd and make “something stronger.”
