DS will shift its focus to smaller, cheaper models following the launch of the new No8 and No7 SUVs – and will soon give a “concrete” look at its plans for a successor to the DS 3 supermini, inspired by the 2010 original.
The French brand is in the midst of a rapid-fire renewal of its line-up, having not launched any new models for four years prior to the No8 late last year, and with that rakish SUV flagship now in dealerships – along with the refreshed No4 hatchback and, soon, the mid-sized No7 – CEO Xavier Peugeot has strongly hinted the next priority is launching a premium city car to rival the Renault 5 and Mini Cooper.
Asked about a timeframe for the next-generation DS 3 – the current car having been on sale for seven years – Peugeot suggested an unveiling could come within the coming months. “Having launched No8, then No4 and now No7, we’ve launched quite big-sized cars – so you understand where our thoughts are going to continue this development, and we will be able to show you some concrete elements in quite a near future,” he said.
He said DS plans to “shake” the small car market with a model that gives “a good balance between being iconic and in line with our roots”, and rational commercial appeal – in keeping with the brand’s ambitious growth plans.
The Paris motor show in October is a likely venue for a new DS to make its debut – possibly in concept form – but Peugeot would only say that was a “very clever” suggestion when asked for confirmation.
As previously reported by Autocar, the next DS 3 is tipped to take heavy design influence from the first-gen car, which was launched in 2010 as the first model from Citroën’s new DS sub-brand – before it was hived off as a marque in its own right in 2015.
Citing the strong commercial success of the Mk1 – which rode lower and was more overtly ‘sporting’ in its positioning than today’s SUV-shaped Mk2 – DS designer Thierry Metroz recently said: “We want to take inspiration from the Gen1, but in a very futuristic way. And what I don't want to do is retro design, but we’d like to keep some design elements which are very strong from the Gen1.”
Peugeot doubled down on this rhetoric, explaining that there’s more flexibility to draw inspiration from the past on smaller cars than larger ones. Notably, DS’s sibling brand Peugeot is employing a similar tactic for its own next-gen supermini, the 208 – which will be closely related to the DS 3 underneath – by channelling the spirit of the 1980s 205.
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You'd have thought Boots might have rights to the No.7 name.
You can use the same name as long as it's a different field. For example, JCB might call their new excavator 'Hovis'. The makers of bread (Hovis) will be informed and asked if they have any objections, though being as it isn't a loaf of bread, then even if they object, they may be overruled. However, JCB cannot then start making loaves with that name. But...a row started years ago when Apple began - and Apple Music (the Beatles) objected. Apple said at the time that they had no plans to enter the music industry. However, a few years later they did just that. Years ago, some friends and I started a small business called Habitat - which was planned to refurbish houses then re-sell them. Incredibly, Habitat got wind of it, even though we kept it a guarded secret. They wrote to us and threatened legal action. As we had no money at the time, we had to give in...I wouldn't now! Easy Jet have taken a few people to court over using the word 'Easy', and won. My company has a product - our rivals stole the word and put an exclamation mark after it. We didn't complain as buyers of their product get confused with ours and end up buying ours! No one makes the mistake the other way because our product is 300% less in price than theirs.
Business is a minefield - don't ever try to patent something unless you have deep pockets.
However, it has to do with brand recognition as well. Boots No 7 is pretty much unknown in the vast majority of the world.
They world not be able to make a model named Coke, though.