The 2009 Geneva Motor Show saw Citroen announce a new ‘premium brand’ with a familiar name.
The DS Inside concept car, aimed squarely at BMW’s Mini, brought a whole new meaning for those two familiar initials, but none of them ‘retro’ or harking back to the previous bearer of them. Oh, no. In fact – the press release might have talked about ‘Different Spirit’ at length, but it never even mentioned probably the best known and most recognisable classic Citroen.
When the DS3 hit the showrooms at the start of 2010, it was almost unchanged from that concept car. Sales have been lively, with at least one UK dealer reporting that they’d had several near-new Minis in part exchange. Colour schemes are lively and varied, with contrasting colours and patterns available for the roof. In practice, sales seem to have followed the Mini tradition – red with white roof appears to be the most common.
Based on the second-generation C3’s mechanicals, meaning that the petrol turbo DS3 shares the second-generation Mini Cooper S’s ‘Prince’ family turbo engine, the DS3 has seen a number of stylish TV adverts featuring iconic personalities from the past – people like John Lennon – with their words carefully edited to declaim ‘retro’.
