When you stand to make a presentation to a large group of people the best thing to do is take a good look at your audience and you’ll find your mind settles as you realise there’s not as many as you first feared. Approaching the SMMT reception, at which Citroen were ready to present their all-new DS5, the style of the place was inspiring and it looked busy. In the same way, the new flagship really is imposing and when you’re up close it feels large and as though there’s a lot to look at. You have to spend some time taking all the details in.
This has been the case, at least in terms of sheer size, for most brand-new cars for the last five years and the DS5 is actually pushing this envelope further. It has five discernible ‘pillars’, if you’re feeling picky, and in profile it seems as though there’s another car on the other side of the DS5. This is just another quirk of an already quirky car which is what Citroen are going for here.
As cars have increased in size so the challenge has been to design the exteriors to appear smaller, with varying degrees of success across manufacturers. A successful example of this is the Ferrari California which looks as tiny as it should be for a sports car from a distance but becomes huge when right next to it. It’s then that it feels as big as a GT car should be. A catastrophic failure is the SsangYong Rodius. It looks like an elephant crossed with a planet.
The DS5 is a big car – a long and wide car with limited visibility in most directions apart from up (each occupant is treated with their own roof window). However, the usual problem of increased size because of EU safety regulations has been tackled here on the DS5 with a couple of neat touches. The sabre (the chrome detail which runs from the headlight to the door), is used blatantly and subtly all over the DS range and on the DS5 enables a deeper side-window profile by blending the front wing with the bonnet. This lets the front door in on that lower action too. Do quite like that bit.
Again, the pencil-line along the side, which has an interesting birth beneath the A-pillar just behind the wheel arch, ties up the deep side-windows with the tailgate by utilising a neat sort of inverted Hofmeister Kink to raise the back door in line which has to happen to make the size of the front end make sense. I’ve got to say that the rear end makes more sense to my tastes what with it being less complicated than the split-level front end.
It was fascinating to be in such stylish surroundings with three cars I knew very little about. The most interesting thing I learned all night is that designers rarely speak in public or to media figures and that we were privileged to witness this. Andy Cowell was the image of a man who thinks hard about visuals and how they project an idea of what you’re looking at.
His talk unsurprisingly focussed on the keywords that are being used to drive the new DS range. He nodded respectfully to the wonderful original DS Pallas that SMMT had so thoughtfully sourced for the evening, and paid tribute to its legacy which has inspired the DS range. He then brought the three cars into a modern global context citing the economic growth of London, Paris and China and suggested that the DS5 meets the specific, bold and unique demands of each market represented. You know, the usual.
They’ve gone for an upmarket feel that has been both designed and engineered into the new DS line after a recognition by Citroen of their need to increase their market standing. Their response to this has been to use particular materials in the cabin such as using the same company which provides Aston Martin with its aluminium finishing components, as well as the same leather providers. To back up this tangible response is the more personal appeal of the claim that each DS5 will be unique and, given the breadth and depth of the options list, this won’t be too hard to maintain.
Unfortunately their last expansive outing, the fantastic C6, demonstrated that Citroen still have a lot to do to avoid massive depreciation so they’ve a lot pinned on this new model. Anyway, Andy wants us to see the car moving, to reserve judgement until we see it disappearing down a dimly-lit side-street, or sweeping through some curves in the middle-distance because that’s where he designed it to look at its best. Let’s hope we’re not so hypnotised by it that we don’t look both ways before we cross that street.
Well, as it stood there under the lights and next to its bloodline, it was favourably received overall but with no little cynicism and no few references to how many of the C6 were sold in its time. The DS5 has to really sell in order to shift these entrenched expectations of big Citroens.
As for SMMT, they had some serious style in the delivery of their wines and dines which were most welcome in contrast to a lunch of dirty chicken and a can of pop. SMMT have set the bar high for future #AutoTweetUp events and shown some faith and foresight in trusting a social media tool to bring in numbers to their events. The sheer expanse of various talents, outlets, and enthusiasm which responded to the call and turned up can only be a beneficial thing for our industry. Here’s to the next one.
Words // Peter Griffiths
Photo // Steve Hall
