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Written by John Kendall
Theevolution of the DS into a brand separate from PSA"s Citro n was marked at the 2014 Paris Motor Showby the Divine DS concept, a four-door compact sedan of about the same length as the DS4at 4.21 m (13.8 ft) long. The Divine DS is designed to show what customers can expect ofDS from now on. This will be a combination of sophistication and technology,according to the company. So expect advanced technologies, with elements ofFrench "haute couture." Head of DSstyling Thierry Metroz hopes to have captured elements from thesculptured teardrop designs of French Grand Routiere cars of the 1930s, fromdesigners and coachbuilders such as Figoni and Falaschi, Saoutchik, and CarrosseriePourtout. "When you look at Divine, the inspiration came from these. With DS, wewould like to revive this French spirit," he told Automotive Engineering.
Metroz isclear that Divine is just a concept, not a potential future model, but with it,he says that the company is making clear all its future design codes for allfuture DS models in terms of exterior and interior design as well as color andtrim definition. "It"s a key concept car in the history of DS," he told Automotive Engineering."[As] with all our concept cars, it"s not only a futuristic design vision; we wouldalways like to produce realistic concept cars to show what we could add quicklyto production cars. We will see a lot of features or design items from this caron a production car." Followingthe DS concepts Numero 9 and Wild Rubis, large concepts designed for theChinese market, Divine is aimed more at European car buyers who might want acar for the weekend, "It"s compact, it"s very cute, it"s very dynamic,"suggested Metroz. The Divinehas been designed without a rear window and in place of a rear-view mirrorthere is a screen carrying images from a small camera at the rear of the car."In terms of design, it"s a great opportunity because we have no rear windowand it"s good for our designer to imagine a different design for the rear. Thebody is also fitted with metal "scales" to give the appearance of a reptilesuch as a snake. The scales can be raised or lowered to improve the aerodynamicefficiency of the car. Similarly, the rear lamps are covered by scales, whichopen up when the engine is started. Metroz suggests that his design team isworking on the scales as a production-car feature. "On Divine,we show our future direction for the front identity of all DS models," saidMetroz, "It"s a key point when you are working on a premium brand; it"s veryimportant to have a strong front and to keep the design for many years and manygenerations of cars." Referring to the two horizontal wings on eitherside of the front grille, Metroz said, "All my designers know that you don"t touch this these two wings on the side are our DS signature. All premium brandshave a fairly large grille to give status it"s a premium code. But the twowings are unique to DS and it will be a key code for DS on all future models.After that, we are developing a specific design for the grille. To introducethe design we have for the Divine grille on a production car is not so easy."This is because the grille on the concept would not allow enough cooling air topass through the radiator. The pairedwing signature is already in production in China on the DS5 LS and DS6, havingfirst appeared on the Numero 9 concept in 2012. Metroz said that it will appearvery soon in Europe, probably during 2015 and after that it will appear on allnew models with the DS emblem, and the Citroen chevrons will disappear. "It"s akey point," said Metroz. "You can change the design of the body size or therear, but it"s impossible to change the front every two or three years. If youdo that, you are not a premium brand; you"re just a brand." Inside the Divine, DS has inventedthe concept of "Hypertypage." The idea is to bring the choice of interior trimclose to the concept of Paris fashion "haute couture." The dashboard and doorscrolls can be changed in 15 minutes to give a choice of three differentstyles. These include "M le" designed to give a masculine perspective usingcarbon fiber on black leather with a pearl stitch and red dots. ""Fatale Punk" ismuch more rock and roll," explained Metroz, with embossed black leather studdedwith Swarovski crystals. "The door trim is made with crystal fabric," he added. "It"s like a textile, but made with crystals woven in, usingmicroscopic pieces of crystal. It"s the first time that the automotive industryhas used this type of material. We decided to work together with Swarovskibecause this company is the world leader for using crystal dedicated to hautecouture and technical crystal. Swarovski has a large R&D department withmore than 600 people." The third trim is "Parisienne Chic" usingfull grain ivory colored leather with pleated silk satin embroidered in thedoor panels with beads and crystals, produced by the French embroidery designerMaison Lesage. "So this is our future designphilosophy for all DS interiors," said Metroz, "For a concept car we like todeliver strong messages and we exaggerate the design features." Metroz hasother ideas for interiors too, "For example, we are working for a futureproject to introduce stone on the dashboard. Not small pieces of stone, but bigpieces," he said. "We have the technology at the moment to produce very thin,very soft sections. You could, for example, cover all the dashboard with realstone. It feels like stone, has the same visual effect, and it"s very light."
Date: 10-Oct-2014 09:50 EDT
More of this article on the SAE International website
ID: 1030
Theevolution of the DS into a brand separate from PSA"s Citro n was marked at the 2014 Paris Motor Showby the Divine DS concept, a four-door compact sedan of about the same length as the DS4at 4.21 m (13.8 ft) long. The Divine DS is designed to show what customers can expect ofDS from now on. This will be a combination of sophistication and technology,according to the company. So expect advanced technologies, with elements ofFrench "haute couture." Head of DSstyling Thierry Metroz hopes to have captured elements from thesculptured teardrop designs of French Grand Routiere cars of the 1930s, fromdesigners and coachbuilders such as Figoni and Falaschi, Saoutchik, and CarrosseriePourtout. "When you look at Divine, the inspiration came from these. With DS, wewould like to revive this French spirit," he told Automotive Engineering.
Metroz isclear that Divine is just a concept, not a potential future model, but with it,he says that the company is making clear all its future design codes for allfuture DS models in terms of exterior and interior design as well as color andtrim definition. "It"s a key concept car in the history of DS," he told Automotive Engineering."[As] with all our concept cars, it"s not only a futuristic design vision; we wouldalways like to produce realistic concept cars to show what we could add quicklyto production cars. We will see a lot of features or design items from this caron a production car." Followingthe DS concepts Numero 9 and Wild Rubis, large concepts designed for theChinese market, Divine is aimed more at European car buyers who might want acar for the weekend, "It"s compact, it"s very cute, it"s very dynamic,"suggested Metroz. The Divinehas been designed without a rear window and in place of a rear-view mirrorthere is a screen carrying images from a small camera at the rear of the car."In terms of design, it"s a great opportunity because we have no rear windowand it"s good for our designer to imagine a different design for the rear. Thebody is also fitted with metal "scales" to give the appearance of a reptilesuch as a snake. The scales can be raised or lowered to improve the aerodynamicefficiency of the car. Similarly, the rear lamps are covered by scales, whichopen up when the engine is started. Metroz suggests that his design team isworking on the scales as a production-car feature. "On Divine,we show our future direction for the front identity of all DS models," saidMetroz, "It"s a key point when you are working on a premium brand; it"s veryimportant to have a strong front and to keep the design for many years and manygenerations of cars." Referring to the two horizontal wings on eitherside of the front grille, Metroz said, "All my designers know that you don"t touch this these two wings on the side are our DS signature. All premium brandshave a fairly large grille to give status it"s a premium code. But the twowings are unique to DS and it will be a key code for DS on all future models.After that, we are developing a specific design for the grille. To introducethe design we have for the Divine grille on a production car is not so easy."This is because the grille on the concept would not allow enough cooling air topass through the radiator. The pairedwing signature is already in production in China on the DS5 LS and DS6, havingfirst appeared on the Numero 9 concept in 2012. Metroz said that it will appearvery soon in Europe, probably during 2015 and after that it will appear on allnew models with the DS emblem, and the Citroen chevrons will disappear. "It"s akey point," said Metroz. "You can change the design of the body size or therear, but it"s impossible to change the front every two or three years. If youdo that, you are not a premium brand; you"re just a brand." Inside the Divine, DS has inventedthe concept of "Hypertypage." The idea is to bring the choice of interior trimclose to the concept of Paris fashion "haute couture." The dashboard and doorscrolls can be changed in 15 minutes to give a choice of three differentstyles. These include "M le" designed to give a masculine perspective usingcarbon fiber on black leather with a pearl stitch and red dots. ""Fatale Punk" ismuch more rock and roll," explained Metroz, with embossed black leather studdedwith Swarovski crystals. "The door trim is made with crystal fabric," he added. "It"s like a textile, but made with crystals woven in, usingmicroscopic pieces of crystal. It"s the first time that the automotive industryhas used this type of material. We decided to work together with Swarovskibecause this company is the world leader for using crystal dedicated to hautecouture and technical crystal. Swarovski has a large R&D department withmore than 600 people." The third trim is "Parisienne Chic" usingfull grain ivory colored leather with pleated silk satin embroidered in thedoor panels with beads and crystals, produced by the French embroidery designerMaison Lesage. "So this is our future designphilosophy for all DS interiors," said Metroz, "For a concept car we like todeliver strong messages and we exaggerate the design features." Metroz hasother ideas for interiors too, "For example, we are working for a futureproject to introduce stone on the dashboard. Not small pieces of stone, but bigpieces," he said. "We have the technology at the moment to produce very thin,very soft sections. You could, for example, cover all the dashboard with realstone. It feels like stone, has the same visual effect, and it"s very light."
Date: 10-Oct-2014 09:50 EDT
More of this article on the SAE International website
ID: 1030