By 2020 you may be able to stop in at a dealer and buy a DS here in the United States.
What’s DS? It’s a sub-brand of PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, launched in 2010 as a division of Citroen in Europe and in China, and becoming a stand-alone brand earlier this year. DS is being positioned as a premium brand above both Peugeot and Citroen. Current DS models compete in the marketplace with vehicles such as the Mini and Audi A3.
DS CEO Yves Bonnefont told Automotive News Europe that plans to return to the U.S. are part of a global strategy to sell DS vehicles in 200 large cities worldwide after 2020. Of those, 30 would be in North America and 20 in the U.S.
“We want to make DS a global premium brand, and you cannot be global without the U.S.,” Bonnefont was quoted as saying this week at the Paris auto show.
Peugeot last sold new vehicles in the U.S. in 1991, and Citroen departed our soil before that.
But according to Bonnefont a decision to return to the U.S. would has not yet been made and would not be made until 2017 at the earliest, and U.S. sales would not begin until after 2020. None of the five current DS models is compliant with U.S. federal standards.
Savvy car guys will recognize that the brand name is rooted in iconic Citroen DS series produced from 1955 to 1975.