Yes, you heard right. Citroen are going to revive the iconic DS. Well, at least the name of it, anyway. Here's the plan - they're basically just going to take existing C3, C4 and C5 platforms, jazz them up, call them the Citroen DS3 DS4 and DS5, and sell them alongside their "C" couterparts at a price premium. That sounds like a marketing dodginess, but I'm actually quite excited, because the idea is that these new DS models will have the same values and focus as the original DS of the previous century.I have to explain to you all why I love the DS - it's probably my favourite car of all time. That's right, no Bugatti Veyrons or Ferrari Enzos for me, just a shiny DS. And yes, before you wonder, this was the graphic in the original magazine advertisement of 1955. But comparing the DS to a spaceship was, at the time, not all that bizarre. First of all, look at it! It's a work of art, and has even inspired art exhibition in its honour. Secondly, it was designed by an artist - Flaminio Bertoni, an Italian sculptor. Such is the appeal of it's artistically space-age looks, that the DS has been used in no fewer than 638 movies.But the main reason why the DS remain such a classic is because of its technologically advanced and futuristic features. For instance, in conventional cars, hydraulic systems were only used for brakes and power steering. The DS used hydraulics in the suspension, clutch, and transmission systems also. Its hydropneumatic suspension became the hallmark of Citroen, since the system could automatically level the car over potholes and road bumps, giving it legendary status as the car with the best ride quality ever made. In fact, the Citroen DS was compared to a magic carpet - I'm not joking. This is the car that cemented Citroen's reputation for impeccable ride quality. It could increase or decrease ground clearance depending on what kind of terrain you were travelling over. And the hydraulic clutch meant that this car could be driven as a clutchless manual - which is still all the rage among supercar makers 50 years later. It also had four-wheel independent suspension, which although doesn't sound like much to people like me, basically meant that it was infinitely lighter and more agile than any of its competitors.

It also featured many world firsts, such as disc brakes, which are now common on our modern road cars. Another first was swivelling headlights (right), which turned with the steering wheel to help you see around corners at night. Even now, so many years down the track, this is a luxury feature not present on the vast majority of vehicles. The roof was made of fiberglass to keep the centre of gravity down closer to the ground, therefore helping the handling of the car. And the interior looked like something designed by a martian, which was highly desirable to a world which at the time was ingrossed in the space race.
They made 1.5 million of these things, including 1365 convertibles like this one (right), and the DS has been sorely missed ever since. It wasn't exactly perfect - hydraulic fluid leaked from everywhere, and Citroen couldn't hire enough mechanics to fix all the broken cars. But a good DS is still a legend, and so it should be. After all, Citroen spent 18 years developing this car in secret before its 1955 launch. Here was a car that was truly, and in almost every single way, ahead of its time.

Which brings me back to this modern day DS revival. Does it sound like a sell out? Yeah, probably, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't give Citroen a chance. They've surprised us before, as the original DS points out. Citroen weren't really known for anything up until 1955 before they rocketed into exclusivity (and have since become progressively more mainstream and boring, until very recently). Heck, even the classic 2CV wasn't popular until after the DS took the world by storm.

I think for a long time, Citroen have had divided priorities. Citroen of old was reknown for wacky vehicles, futuristic designs, new technologies, and… poor reliability, but never mind, that part isn't important. Then for ages, we started to see a more and more mainstream Citroen. Boring, characterless designs that appealed to the masses. They may have sold better, but were never instant classics like the DS.

But the point is, these two ideas have never been reconciled. Instead, Citroen has been constantly struggling with itself, trying to juggle lunacy with common-sense, which doesn't work in any universe. Citroen is releasing a DS lineup so that they can make models that are truly “Citroen” as we want them to be - wacky and futuristic and all that. In this way, they can make their C1/2/3/4/5/6/8 models - I can count!!! - more mainstream, and hopefully satisfy both streams of buyers.

So I'm going to try and preempt the new technologies in these modern day DS cars... but I just can't think of anything that Mercedes or Rolls-Royce or posh makers like that haven't already done. So, if these new Citroen DS cars are going to swing with me, this is the one world-first feature they must all have.

They must be able to transform into a dancing robot.

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