Citroen‘s DS5, the third member of the company’s parallel DS brand, will be the first model in its overall portfolio to use PSA’s all-wheel-drive, 200hp, diesel-electric hybrid powertrain with a claimed CO2 figure of 99g/km.
Due on sale in the UK next spring, the DS5 represents the DS sub-brand’s greatest challenge: entering the upper medium sector, dominated by high-RV German premium manufacturers.
Shorter and narrower than Ford‘s Mondeo it should costs between £25,000 and £30,000, with the DS5’s interior featuring a head-up windscreen instrument display and switchgear mounted in an aircraft-style roof console.
Whereas the DS4 stays closer in design to its mainstream C4 stablemate, Citroen designers believe that among BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Jaguar the DS5 needs to be original without lapsing back to the quirky and eccentric designs of previous large Citroens.
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