Is the Citroën DS a Citroën?
Well,
there’s a daft question. It should be self-evident that it
is. Except for when you ask Citroën UK* whose answer suggests
that
it both is and isn’t.
Of course the Citroën world
has been vexed
by a not dissimilar question – are cars in the DS range Citroëns?
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I have already expressed
my opinion regarding this latter
question.
Since PSA Groupe has decided that DS is a separate, stand-alone marque
within the Group, it is nothing more to do with Citroën than Peugeot
is. This latter question would, on the face of it, appear harder
to
answer than the question I posed in the title. There is an
argument
that Citroën genes run in the new marque. I happen to think it is
a
puerile argument since cars don’t have DNA or genes – outside of
marketing departments.
So what triggered this idiotic question? The answer is Citroën’s
new website that they have launched. It is called CitroënOrigins.
The site is very slick – click on the car of your choice and you can
rotate the view. There is a very brief summary – number of
cylinders – weight – number of cars manufactured – horse power – length
and max speed. Click on a key and you can hear the sound of the
engine. And there’s lots more information – although little of it
will be new to members of this club.
So what is the problem? There are two glaring omissions - that quirky
aerodynamic thing with all those pipes and funny suspension that goes
up and down – the thing launched in 1955 and its offspring – the long
coupé with the Italian engine. However, the Elysée is
featured. And surprisingly, so are the A Series cars.
Surprisingly since for decades the company has regarded the 2CV as a
bit of an embarrassment; a reminder of when Citroën design offered
original and very effective solutions to the general public at an
affordable price.
Several people have asked me what I thought and my response was that it
represents a Stalinist rewriting of history. But then history has
never been Peugeot-Citroën’s strong point.
An interesting blog by Ian Seabrook entitled Citroën destroys brand loyalty
is well worth reading. Ian makes the point that the “…spinning
off of the DS ‘brand’ from within Citroën is a triumph of marketing
over substance.” And they have now decided to “…airbrush one of its
most iconic designs from its history files…” …because “some marketing
bod who was born decades later had a blue sky moment and decided it
isn’t a Citroën anymore.” He goes on to say that history is being
altered to make it easier to sell the “hideous DS range of cars”.
PSA Groupe just doesn’t get it. It has no understanding of the role of
heritage presumably because it is difficult to quantify on the bottom
line. And the bottom line is the raison d’être of the business
and since income achieved via the use of heritage isn’t readily
identifiable, the bean counters assume it has no value.
Citroën’s heritage is second to none. Its impact on the
automotive world is unparalleled. And companies whose impact
pales into insignificance in comparison – companies like BMW and
Mercedes-Benz – are all too well aware that heritage is important.
Peugeot has always been ambivalent about Citroën. They view it as
a wayward and expensive child that they adopted and they view Citroën’s
customers with contempt. They are non-conformists who refuse to
be fobbed off with bland, stodgy, conventional (but profitable) cars.
Facebook has been full of comments too. Someone wrote that they
had tweeted Citroën UK and received the answer that “DS is nothing to
do with Citroën”. Affording the benefit of doubt, I think we
should conclude that the person who gave this answer had only recently
joined the company and had not been briefed properly.
Among the suggestions for the reason for the omissions is that the web
designers only had room for a given number of cars so they deleted two
of the least interesting models. (I think this might have been
tongue-in-cheek).
So I tweeted Citroën UK. No reply. So I re-tweeted
them. Again, no reply. So I asked them on Twitter directly
why they found it so difficult to respond. And one again there
was no response.
So I emailed their Press Office. And all was explained.
Yes, more
than
happy to explain why the DS and SM don’t appear in this site at the
moment. As you know, DS
Automobiles officially became an independent brand on 1 June 2014 and,
as a result, the PSA Group now has three separate brands – Citroën,
Peugeot and DS Automobiles. Today, the ambition
of DS Automobiles is to revive the tradition of French premium
vehicles, largely inspired by the original DS from 1955. Citroën, on the
other hand, is at the heart of the mainstream. The brand has a ‘be
different, feel good’ philosophy at its heart and is focused on a bold,
optimistic and creative approach to automotive design. The original DS was
part of the then Citroën range and remains a Citroën DS, and both
modern-day brands are extremely proud of this shared heritage. Clearly it isn’t
logical for two separate brands to pro-actively reference the same
heritage models, so DS Automobiles will make primary reference to the
history and the DNA of the original DS and its spiritual successor, the
SM. This has been decided by mutual agreement between the two brands. However, as I have
said, Citroën and DS Automobiles are both very proud of their shared
history and it is fully acknowledged that the original DS was and
remains a Citroën DS – so, of course, there will always be times when
Citroën references the ‘classic’ DS and the SM. The Citroën Origins
website will change and develop over time and the Citroën brand is
already looking at ways of incorporating these two iconic models into
the site in the future. I hope this is all
clear?
Well, no, actually it isn’t
clear at all. I don’t understand why
“two separate brands cannot pro-actively reference the same heritage
models”. The only reason that this might be a problem is if PSA
Groupe wants to suggest that DS Automobiles has nothing to do with
Citroën and therefore the DS must be expunged from the historical
record. But since the current Citroën range has absolutely
nothing in common with its forebears that also wore the double
chevrons, they might just as well stop trying to kid us that there is
any connection. It would be more honest were they to ignore their
pre PSA heritage completely rather than selectively rewriting history.
PSA has adopted the strategy of targeting a new group of customers;
people with no affinity for Citroën. And in choosing the name DS
for
the new premium marque, PSA deliberately made the Citroën connection
that their target market was reluctant to make. I suspect that this
huge marketing monster has forced Citroën to wipe the original Citroën
DS (and SM) from its history in favour of the marketing of the Chinese
DS brand.
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