Citroen DS5 LS for the Chinese Market

Citroen DS5 LS for the Chinese Market

The revolution is on. Thursday, September 19 , Citroën unveiled at the Louvre, the world premiere of the fourth vehicle in its DS range : the DS5 "LS" . The initials LS mean " luxury sedan " or notchback sedan (with trunk apparent) luxury ...

DS5 LS the Revolution ?

But the revolution is not in the new name or in the presence of a chest, but on the front of this new vehicle .

The famous Citroën chevrons have indeed disappeared. On the radiator grille , the only logo this is " DS ". It took three years for Citroën leaders take this decision. The reason is simple: the new DS 5LS has been exclusively developed , at least initially , for the Chinese market . However, for a year and its launch in China , DS is considered in the Middle Kingdom as a brand in its own right and not a range of Citroën .

PSA strategy

Moreover, to develop DS , PSA Peugeot Citroën is not based on the traditional local partner Dongfeng , but Changan .
a joint venture Changan -PSA ( Capsa ) has just opened in September first plant , with a capacity of 200,000 vehicles , a suburb of Shenzhen where the DS5 will be produced LS, next to the 5 local DS . Until the summer, DS concessions sold only a few dozen DS imported from Europe. But since the fall, the rate increases significantly.
"About 3,000 copies of DS5 have already been ordered, says Yves Bonnefont , the Deputy Director General and head of Citroën DS range . We deliver on average a thousand DS5 produced in China per month. Ramp up faster than we had anticipated. "
Citroën DS5 LS, for the Chinese market .
However, even locally, the DS5 is not a pure Chinese product . It breaks too many codes to position itself as the flagship vehicle of the French luxury in the country.
Indeed, with his chest tailgate, a space at the back very limited , this vehicle is primarily made ​​for drivers. But in China, the silver vehicle owner prefers ... to be driven. The DS5 LS must meet these desiderata . In a very simple line , both wider and longer than a conventional DS5 , this new model is better suited to the usual Chinese luxury codes .

Luxury Code in China

Like its cousins ​​in the range, the new model offers a refined interior and exterior finish: light LED rear chrome decoration on doors, dashboard trimmed in leather , air ionizer , treated plastic parts , seat massage , acoustic comfort , touch screen ... It will have also the latest generation of 160 and THP 200 petrol engines developed with BMW.source
Contrary to what its name might imply , the DS5 LS is not strictly speaking a derivative of the DS5 . Clearly, " we left early to draw," says Bonnefont .
However, to facilitate industrialization , it shares the same technique as the DS5 platform. SUV with future PSA intends to launch in late 2014 , the new model should allow DS to accelerate its development in the country.
For the success of this brand through China. Since 2010, it took nearly 400,000 DS3 , DS4 and DS5 in Europe, but it is still not enough. To go into overdrive , China must take over. By the end of the year , the brand should have 51 concessions in the country, then a hundred at the end of 2014. And entrusted the spring source at PSA , " the next three to four years , we would sell about 150,000 DS per year in China."
Written by Pom


Yves Bonnefont does not intend to make a public commitment on numbers. For the firm IHS Automotive in 2015 , DS could sell up to 55,000 units.
The Chinese market will not be easy for DS ensures Namrita Chow, IHS Automotive. However, as it is still growing , local production will help increase supply and thus cause a change in perception of Chinese consumers