DS sets bold plan to rival Bentley and Rolls-Royce

DS aspires to rival Rolls-Royce and Bentley as it targets a move beyond the premium segment and into the luxury sphere.

That’s according to design director Thierry Métroz, who said the Stellantis-owned French brand’s “dream is to be the Louis Vuitton of the automotive industry”.

Speaking to Autocar at the Brussels motor show at the first public outing of its new No8 (pronounced ‘number eight’) flagship, Métroz said: “We are premium [now] 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 explained that the No8 already took inspiration from Bentley in its interior, including the material use and its application.

“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.

No sales volume target has been set for the No8, said Métroz, with the goal instead being “to make a very good quality car with a really nice design focused on the quality of the interior”.

He added: “We need to sell cars, like any brand, but our target is not to sell a lot of cars [at volume]; we prefer to reinforce the positioning of the brand with the luxury feeling.”

Métroz also confirmed that new versions of the DS 7 SUV and DS 4 hatchback (set to be renamed the No 7 and No 4) will have “the same spirit” as the No8.

Indeed, he believes that bold designs are becoming more important, as there is so much homogeny in car design currently, particularly among the many new Chinese entrants.

“All the Chinese copy Porsche or Tesla, and at the end they always look like a Tesla or a Porsche. At DS, we don’t want to follow with the same vision; we will keep something stronger.”

Customers clinics have also shown that more people “are ready to buy an EV but would like to keep a very attractive design with a lot of character”, said Métroz. “People don’t want to buy a washing machine.”