Tag: Citroen/PSA

Disappointing Sequel (Part Two)

Concluding our latterday examination of DS Automobiles, we draw some conclusions.

Image: auto55

The 2015 relaunch of DS Automobiles as a separate stand-alone marque necessitated a facelift for the existing DS3, DS4 and DS5 models. The Citroën badging and logo was replaced with a new, stylised DS badge, while the distinctive Double-Chevron front grille was replaced by a rather generic hexagonal item. The stylised DS initials appeared twice on the front end of the facelifted cars, in large size within the grille and on a smaller square badge on the painted panel above. At the rear, DS also appeared twice; stylised in the centre of the tailgate and offset to the right in a plain script suffixed with the model number.

Did the abundance of badges indicate a degree of unease about DS’s name recognition, and its prospects as a stand-alone marque? This badging led to a certain confusion as to the names of the relaunched models; for example, was it DS DS3 or simply DS 3? The official DS website indicates that the latter is correct.

In any event, the relaunch had no apparent impact on DS sales, which continued to Continue reading “Disappointing Sequel (Part Two)”

The Crossback of Amsterdam

During a pleasant, early morning walk in Amsterdam, a surprise first viewing.

DS3Cross3
New DS3 Crossback – front 4/5 view

Apologies for the poor level of just-about-everything about the photos, but, I came across my first DS3 Crossback whilst on a recent work trip to Amsterdam and felt a compulsion to record the event on my phone. I am always terribly self-conscious when taking street-photos of other people’s cars like this, so I got it over with as soon as I could, resulting in this rather sorry gathering of pictures.

Let’s get it out of the way immediately and Continue reading “The Crossback of Amsterdam”

Nib of the Matter

A close shave with the lesser-spotted Citroen Saxo-BIC® edition.

(c) BIC

In 1944, two Frenchmen, Marcel Bich and Édouard Buffard set up a business in Clichy to produce writing instruments. In the post-war era, the company prospered and having adapted László Biró’s original design for a ballpoint pen, Bich introduced the mass-produced BIC Cristal in December 1950, quickly becoming a stationary cupboard essential. Such was its impact, commercial success and design influence that in 2001 a BIC Cristal pen was added to the permanent collection of the Department of Architecture and Design at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

In 1973 the company introduced a range of disposable lighters, while two years later BIC launched the one-piece razor. Three staple products; perfect realisations of product design, made in their millions every year, reliable, ubiquitous and disposable. Yet each were masterpieces in their own right, eminently fit for their purpose, used and thoughtlessly discarded by millions around the world every day. Continue reading “Nib of the Matter”

A Different Expectation

Here we go again: Citroën. New D-segment saloon. Dramatic new design. Ah, nice to see you again Dr. Pavlov.

top gear
2016 Citroen Cxperience concept. Image credit (c) Top Gear:

At this week’s Automotive News World Congress in Turin, Richard Meyer, head of future products for Citroën reportedly spoke of the double chevron’s forthcoming D-segment saloon. Alluding to its “dramatic new design” Meyer told delegates, “The sedan will remain key in the automotive world, but Citroën wants to Continue reading “A Different Expectation”

Sorry Ms. Jackson

As Citroën reveals the European version of the C5 Aircross CUV, we examine its likely significance within CEO, Linda Jackson’s ‘people-focused’ double chevron reinvention.

Image credit: (c) Citroen UK

Last week, Citroën announced the European debut of its new marque flagship, the C5 Aircross CUV, introduced to the Chinese market last autumn to help arrest the double chevron’s faltering sales performance; PSA citing sales of 40,000 units to the year end. A nice round sum.

The C5 Aircross is significant in three ways to European eyes. Firstly, because it allows us to Continue reading “Sorry Ms. Jackson”

Act of Contrition – Citroen C6 (part two)

We drive a C6 and discover there’s nothing penitential about Citroën’s swansong big saloon.

Image: Car
Image: Car

On my return to Randle Engineering in November 2016, I re-introduced the subject of the C6, but this time with a more contrite tone. I ask Steve to tell me more about his example. By UK standards at least, Randle’s C6 has a virtually unique specification. It’s a 2007 C6 2.2 litre model with a six-speed manual transmission, one of 38 in the country. Continue reading “Act of Contrition – Citroen C6 (part two)”

Cemetery Polka

Autumn’s in the air, the nights are closing in and it’s really no time to be hanging around graveyards. For one thing, you’ll catch your death…

Image: rock.ge
Image: rock.ge

It’s probably about time I owned up to having a morbid interest in revenants. I know, it’s unedifying at best and possibly illegal, but I really can’t seem to help myself. Time and again I make the same vain promise: no more loitering around dank graveyards, to be escorted home by the local constabulary amid muttered admonitions of ‘not you again?’

But it’s no good, the lure of broken soil and Continue reading “Cemetery Polka”

Making Up is Hard to Do

Britain’s decision to leave the EU has rung alarm bells throughout the industry, but PSA is lovebombing Blighty with this: the DS 3 Puretech 110 Givenchy Le Makeup.

Image: dsautomobiles
Image: dsautomobiles

Since Britain’s engaged and informed electorate voted for Brexit last month, a quiet but concerted campaign is being waged by our European cousins to lure us back. Most of this has been met with slavering rebuke, but like a patient and loving parent soothing a petulant child with too much sugar in its bloodstream, efforts at rapprochement continue. The latest being this. Continue reading “Making Up is Hard to Do”

PSA’s Tale of Two Continents

Peugeot/Citroën’s European D-sector sales collapse is not the catastrophe it first appears.

2015 DS5 - image via car24news
2015 DS5 – image via car24news

As we know, the motor industry is riven with contradiction, but nevertheless, some things remain beyond debate. Take the fact that the European mid-sized saloon market has been in serious and (some say) terminal decline since 2007, with sales across the sector falling by half. Yet, with Europe-wide volumes of almost half a million cars last year, there still remains a good deal to play for in what’s left of the segment. This month, PSA Groupe have posted their first profits in three years on the back of vast and painful cost-cutting including the axing of unprofitable models. So today we ask where this hollowing out has left PSA’s mid-sized saloon offerings?  Continue reading “PSA’s Tale of Two Continents”