Citroen DS5 Expands Upmarket Range

PARIS – Citroen will launch the DS5, the third car in its premium DS line, in France in December and elsewhere in Europe early next year.

The compact station wagon, with an available diesel-hybrid engine, will be marketed as a competitor against the BMW 5 Series and Audi A6. It also will be exported to China until 2013, when production begins at PSA Peugeot Citroen’s joint venture plant with Chang’an Group.

The vehicle was unveiled at the Shanghai auto show in April.

Citroen forecasts annual sales of 40,000 DS5 models in Europe, including 6,000 hybrids going on sale in several months. Of those, the auto maker expects half will go to fleets and half to individual buyers. Citroen expects to sell 40% of cars powered only by diesel or gasoline to be sold to fleets.

The DS line aims at attracting new buyers to Citroen. The auto maker’s first offering, the DS3, resembles BMW’s Mini and has a similar sporty design. Of the 135,000 DS3s sold since launch, 60% have gone to buyers new to the brand, spokeswoman Estelle Rouvrais says.

A new version arrives next year.

The DS4 coupe, launched earlier this year, has generated 20,000 orders and has a yearly goal of 40,000 deliveries.

The DS5 is assembled alongside the Peugeot 3008 cross/utility vehicle in Sochaux, France, on PSA’s Platform 2. The next hybrid rear-wheel-drive models will be the Peugeot 508 and 508 RXH, which use the larger Platform 3.

The DS5 is relatively compact at 15 ft. (4.6 m) in length, but in Europe it feels larger. The exterior design’s sporty touches include air intakes in the front bumper and wide-chromed exhaust trim. The rear side windows, made of glazed-plastic polycarbonate, have a small vertical aerodynamic shape molded into them. An airfoil divides the glass liftgate.

The interior has a distinct driver cockpit, emphasizing the sporty nature Citroen is giving this family vehicle. The instrument display is curved toward the driver; navigation, climate-control and infotainment functions are in the center console for equal access by the front-seat passenger.

A console on the headliner has controls for the three moon roofs and driver’s heads-up display, as well as map lights.

The small roof openings, heavy B-pillar, long A-pillar, high shoulder line and small windows combine to make the driver feel snug but not claustrophobic. Yet it differs from most cars in the segment Citroen is targeting by lending the sensation of “wearing” the vehicle.

Passengers are given more space, and the rear seats afford good knee room. The auto maker designed the DS5 with consideration for China, where many car owners are chauffeured rather than drive themselves.

The interior trim features pure metal, real leather, carbon fiber and high-grade plastic. The highest trim level uses brushed steel from a supplier to Bentley and Rolls-Royce, spokesman Jean-Pierre Duvivier says.

Prices start at E30,000 ($40,500) and top out at E44,000 ($59,400) for the hybrid version in the highest trim.

In France, buyers of gasoline-powered DS5s must pay a E200 ($271) or E750 ($1,015) surtax because of that vehicle’s relatively high carbon-dioxide emissions. Diesel-hybrid buyers will get a E2,000 ($2,706) bonus because the engine emits only 99 g/km of CO2, the equivalent of 63 mpg (3.73 L/100 km).

The DS5 hybrid uses the same mechanics as the Hybrid4 engine already launched in its Platform 2 companion, the Peugeot 3008. A 163-hp diesel powers the DS5’s front wheels and a 20 kW (27-hp) electric motor turns the rear wheels, giving the vehicle all-wheel-drive capability.

As with the 3008’s Hybrid4, software controls the DS5’s powerplant, switching regularly between engine and motor or using both, as the driver accelerates, decelerates, climbs hills or descends them.

“In a 900-km (560-mile) trip on regular roads, you would have about 200 km (120 miles) of zero-emission driving,” says Bruno Lelievre, director-hybridization quality.

The 1.2-kWh nickel-metal-hydride battery provides only 0.6 miles (1 km) of range by itself, but cuts fuel consumption by 30% when used as a hybrid booster and retriever of energy during deceleration, Citroen says.