Text/Qin Ming
The DS was once the next citroën brand to make a splash in the world. From 1955 to 1975, it became a classic with nearly 1.5 million sales. But in the end, this model had to be discontinued due to technical reasons and declining sales. Until 2009, when Citroen wanted to create a new high-end sub-brand. But until now, DS seems to be able to recreate the glory of decades ago, and it has not even broken through to fame.
According to the data, in 2020, the global sales of DS were only 43,000 vehicles, and the sales volume in China was 320 vehicles, while since the listing of the DS9, the cumulative sales volume in the country was only a pitiful 236 units, which was a miserable achievement! DS's dealership nationwide has dropped from 200 to just over 60.
Recently, it was learned from the official that the new DS 9 will be announced on March 31, and the new DS 9 will add a new Paris gray body color. Although as a French luxury brand model, DS 9 positioning is also a luxury mid-size car, just from the sales point of view, DS 9 sales in the past year was 923 vehicles, the highest sales appeared in December last year was 333 vehicles, compared to Lincoln Z, Cadillac CT5, Volvo S60 and other similar luxury models are not impressive.
The new car continues the old design, in the appearance of the DS9 on the luxurious temperament is indeed very sufficient, the entire design also has a unique French romantic artistic atmosphere, honeycomb grille and from the "three-dimensional diamond" headlights to the front bumper of the light strip are very visually recognizable design, through the entire body of the waist line and chrome trim around the door frame, making it look very calm. The design of the tail upturned and the diamond shape design is very layered, and it is said that the tail light group also adopts the glass pyramid shape of the Louvre, and the French romantic atmosphere is reflected in the details.
The interior of the DS 9 is luxuriously wrapped in a large amount of leather, including the center console, steering wheel, door interior trim and many other details using leather materials. However, DS seems to be very fond of diamond-shaped elements, whether it is the exterior or interior can see a lot of diamond-shaped elements, even the interface design of the display is also.
The soft material-wrapped center console with a carved clock adds to the luxurious interior, and the button style below the center control screen and around the gear is also artistic.
The DS9 wraps the seat in Nappa leather, which is undoubtedly good in terms of touch and comfort. The front seats are equipped with leg rests, massage and other functions, and the passenger seats also have the rear boss button.
The rear seat also takes good care of the passengers, and the airline headrests, individual air conditioning, and seat heating/ventilation are all equipped, which can fully reflect the sense of luxury in the riding experience.
I have to say that the exterior interior design of DS9 does have the tonality of the luxury brand, but the configuration is really a bit unspeakable, a 250,000-car flagship model, actually driving images and navigation information are not, tell a joke to everyone, in a luxury model even need to rely on mobile phones to connect the car machine to navigate, not only does not have any luxury embodiment, but pulls down the grade, assisted driving is only available in the high-end version, automatic parking is only equipped with the highest version.
In addition to the configuration is a big slot point, DS9 power is also "not to be outdone". The DS 9 fuel model is equipped with a 1.6T engine with a maximum power of 158 kW and a peak torque of 300 Nm, matching the 8-speed manual transmission and using front-wheel drive. In addition, the DS 9 offers a 1.6T plug-in hybrid model with a maximum engine of 147 kW and an electric motor of 81.2 kW, also with front-wheel drive, matching an 8-speed manual transmission.
The 8-speed gearbox can undoubtedly output the power very linearly, and it is still a 1.6T engine, which may feel very brisk in the case of low-speed driving, but it is different when accelerating, although it is indeed accelerating, but the effect will certainly not be too obvious, so the driving experience can only be said to be comfortable and flat, and there will not be much driving pleasure. This is also the problem that DS9 has always existed, obviously in the appearance of the interior and the strength of the same level of luxury, but in the configuration of power to drag their legs, does DS think that in the appearance and interior, DS9 has a great advantage? Can you even compensate for the performance shortcomings?
Write at the end:
Luxury brands do rely on brands to attract users, but their products will not be weaker than the market medium level, DS into the Chinese market is only a few years, completely do not understand the preferences of domestic consumers temper, paranoid design so that domestic users are not even bothered to understand, and DS9 one does not have a strong brand influence, two do not exceed the same level of high-level models, especially in the face of such a fierce domestic market, I have to say that the future road of DS is a bit difficult to go.