CarBrandLogos archive · Citroën · 1955

CitroënDS

It looked like nothing on earth, and took 12,000 orders on its first day.

Photo: Klugschnacker · CC BY-SA 3.0

The story

A defining chapter in Citroën history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Citroën DS, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

The DS was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show on 5 October 1955, and the reaction has become part of French cultural history: around twelve thousand orders were taken on the first day, and Roland Barthes wrote an essay comparing it to a Gothic cathedral, something descended from another world rather than designed by engineers.

1974 Citroen DS23 Pallas · No machine-readable author provided. PLawrence99cx assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain

Design and engineering

What justified the reaction was hydropneumatic suspension. Instead of steel springs, each wheel was carried on a sphere containing nitrogen under pressure separated from hydraulic fluid by a diaphragm, with a pump maintaining the system. The car self-levelled regardless of load, absorbed poor road surfaces better than anything else on sale, and could be raised for rough ground or lowered on to its sills. The same high-pressure circuit operated the brakes, the power steering and the semi-automatic gearchange.

1969 Citroen ID 19 · No machine-readable author provided. PLawrence99cx assumed (based on copyright claims). · Public domain

In production

Flaminio Bertoni's body, developed with André Lefèbvre, was aerodynamically shaped, with a narrow rear track hidden under enclosed rear wheels, a plastic roof to lower the centre of gravity, and no conventional grille. Inside, a single-spoke steering wheel and a mushroom brake button ensured that nothing felt familiar either. The car saved Charles de Gaulle's life in 1962. Assassins ambushed his DS at Petit-Clamart and shot out two tyres; the suspension kept the car level and the driver accelerated away. De Gaulle used a DS for the rest of his presidency.

1973 Citroën D Spécial sedan 02 · OSX · Public domain

Legacy

Robert Opron's 1967 facelift added covered directional headlamps that turned with the steering, and the car ran until 1975, by which time 1,455,746 had been built. Citroën never quite recovered from having set its own standard so high; the CX that followed was excellent and inevitably a little less astonishing.

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1955–1975

Units built

1,455,746

Engine

1911&nbsp

Designer

Flaminio Bertoni

Technical specification

The DS, in detail.

Production: 1955–1975 ; 1,455,746 produced
Class: Executive car (E)
Body style: 4-door Sedan (automobile); sedan ; 5-door Station wagon; wagon (Safari) ; 2-door convertible
Layout: MF layout
Engine: 1911 cc Straight-four engine; I4 (DS/ID 19) ; 1985 cc I4 (DS 20) ; 2175 cc I4 (DS 21) ; 2347 cc I4 (DS 23)
Transmission: 3-speed automatic; 4-speed manual; 5-speed manual; 4-speed semi-automatic
Designer: Flaminio Bertoni ; André Lefèbvre ; Robert Opron (1967 facelift)
Assembly: France: 15th arrondissement of Paris; Paris (Vaugirard) ; Australia: Heidelberg, Victoria ; Portugal: Mangualde ; United Kingdom: Slough, England ; South Africa: Johannesburg ; Yugoslavia: Koper, Slovenia (Tomos; Cimos)
Manufacturer: Citroën