Fathers of the DS
Launched in 1938 by head of Citroën Pierre Boulanger, and pursued by Pierre Bercot, its successor from 1950 onwards, the VGD (VGD for “Véhicule à Grande Diffusion” or mass-production vehicle) project only comes to fruition 17 years later with the launch of DS 19 in October 1955. Three men in particular are involved in its design and development. The first, André Lefèbvre, an aeronautical engineer by training, is a passionate advocate of front-wheel drive, as well as aerodynamics, light-weight design and the centring of mass. The second, self-taught engineer Paul Magès, creates the hydraulic system. He invents the famous hydropneumatic suspension, together with the hydraulic powered steering, clutch and braking systems on the DS. Lastly, talented stylist, sculptor and painter Flaminio Bertoni, with his team of designers gives the DS its revolutionary and elegant lines.
1955 motor show: the DS makes its debut in Paris
On Thursday 6 October 1955 the DS 19 makes its debut at the Paris Motor Show. Under the stately vaulted ceiling of the Grand Palais, the unveiling of this hitherto secret car elicits both astonishment and admiration. Its avant-garde yet elegant lines instantly set a new benchmark. Visitors and journalists are literally spellbound. Competitors can only applaud the newcomer’s genius. Legend has it that 12,000 DS 19s would be sold by the end of the day and that when the show closes its doors 10 days later, some 80,000 orders have been taken!
The 1950s: DS takes off!
DS production begins on 7 October 1955 at the factory on the Quai de Javel in Paris (France), the day after its Paris Motor Show debut. Such is the innovative look of the first models appearing on the road, crowds often gather. The car’s pioneering technical and aesthetic solutions stir endless curiosity since, not content with being a real automotive sculpture, the DS is also a focus of advanced technology. For example, its remarkable hydropneumatic suspension provides unprecedented levels of roadholding and comfort. Another new safety feature, its extremely powerful hydraulically assisted braking system with front disc brakes, give it such short stopping distances that it genuinely confuses some seasoned drivers when they first experience the DS.
Several versions of DS 19 are launched during the 1950s. The first is ID 19 introduced in October 1956, followed by the estate, family and commercial versions that appear in 1958, at the same time as DS 19 Prestige. DS 19 also breaks new ground in 1958 by offering a choice of bodywork paints that go from four colours to an unheard-of eight! The first styling upgrades come the following year in 1959, with the body shape refined by lengthening the rear wings and adding large, “ashtray-style” air vents to the front wings.
From the word go, DS 19 enjoys a highly international career. It is assembled in the UK and Belgium from 1956, and in South Africa starting in 1959. As a symbol of French elegance and avant-garde, the car is exported across Western Europe, to almost all Commonwealth countries, including Canada and Australia and to the United States, where it quickly builds a large base of die-hard fans.
DS Prestige: chauffeur driven
A chauffeur-driven version of DS 19 is revealed in October 1958 at the Paris Motor Show with exclusive black body paint, a retracting glass pane between the driver and rear seats and grey upholstery with front and rear benches covered in leather at the front and Jersey fabric in the back. Dubbed DS 19 Prestige, the model is launched five months later in March 1959, available with an intercom, car radio and “radiotelephony device” as options. It is exceptionally comfortable and successfully becomes the go-to car for major political and industrial leaders. Over the years, it receives the same technical upgrades as the regular DS and sales only end in January 1975.
Wins in Monte Carlo: a formidable competition car
In January 1956, three months after its launch, DS 19 makes its debut in the most prestigious rally. It comes first in its class, is the first French car and all six cars entered get to the finish. In 1959 the team of Coltelloni-Alexandre-Desrosiers take ID 19 to a first-place finish in the overall standings and, over the years, a whole series of especially commendable top finishes follows. In 1966, the “21” version of the DS takes a second victory in Monaco with the Finnish team of Toivonen-Mikander at the wheel. A great car for the open road, the DS is also a formidable racer around the world!
The 1960s: DS leads the pack
During the 1960s, DS 19 confirms its reputation as a refined, comfortable and elegant road car. With regular developments, it relentlessly consolidates its dominance over rivals. Then in July 1959, its 1,911 cc engine sees a power increase from 75 to 78 hp through the introduction of a new cylinder head and a modified ignition. In October 1960, the famous DS 19 Cabriolet is introduced, then power is increased again in March 1961 with 83 hp for a top speed of 150 km/h! The following September, it gets a new all-black dashboard highlighted by a light grey strip on which, as an option, it’s possible to mount a car radio as on DS Prestige.
In September 1962, the DS has its first front facelift. It loses its large air vents on the wings and gains two arrowhead rubber bumper guards and a redesigned lower bumper. This upgrade further improves the car’s aerodynamics, cutting fuel consumption and increasing top speed to 160 km/h.
In October 1965, a year after the launch of the DS Pallas in 1964, a new DS is released with a higher performance 2,175 cc engine developing 109 hp for a top speed that’s now 175 km/h! In addition to DS 19, available since 1955 and named because of its 1,911 cc engine, the range benefits from DS 21.
The DS has a facelift in 1967 that, apart from its unanimously admired good looks, also includes a new safety feature with the famous swivelling headlamps now fitted as standard on the range-topping Prestige, Pallas and Cabriolet models. From then on, the DS lights up the inside of corners before entering them!
Following the introduction in September 1968 of an all-black dashboard and the replacement of DS 19 by DS 20, 1969 sees the advent of an entirely redesigned dashboard featuring three large circular dials and topped by a visor across its entire width. But 1969 is above all marked by a major mechanical upgrade. DS 21’s 2,175 cc engine is fitted with electronically controlled fuel injection, increasing power to 139 bhp with top speed now exceeding 185 km/h… More than ever, the DS asserts its standing relative to the competition and remains an extraordinary car from every perspective!
DS Cabriolet: four seats in the open air
Tasked with converting DS Prestige and recognised for producing convertibles from DS models since October 1958, coachbuilder Henri Chapron is commissioned to develop a production DS convertible model. After producing three prototypes, the launch takes place at the Paris Motor Show in October 1960. The meticulous finish and pure lines of the cabriolet include full-leather upholstery and, from August 1964, features characteristic of the DS Pallas, such as additional headlamps and special wheel trim. A premium model retailing for almost twice as much as the DS saloon, even today the DS Cabriolet remains a benchmark in French automotive aesthetics and refinement.
DS Pallas: luxury and excellence
The new DS Pallas launched at the 1964 Paris Motor Show features equipment levels never before seen on a French production car. It stands apart from other DS models with meticulous and especially luxurious equipment, including combined stainless steel and rubber strips, distinctive hubcaps, special rear lights with chrome trim and extra headlights. Inside, the seats are thicker, the front seatbacks are higher and exclusive leather upholstery is available as an option. The DS Pallas has the same body colours as the other DS models but is also available exclusively with metallic paint.
DS presidential: the longest of its time
To replace the limousine produced on the Traction Avant chassis by coachbuilder Franay in 1955, the French president commissions a new state vehicle, which will be delivered to the Elysée Palace on 14 November 1968. The specifications called for a vehicle longer than the Lincoln used at the time by the US president. Developed and built by coachbuilder Henri Chapron, but conceived and designed by the Quai de Javel, this unique DS measures 6.53 metres long. It boasts ultra-luxurious equipment, with a convex and inclined separation glass, all brown leather upholstery, a fold-down seat for interpreters, electric windows, air conditioning, direct and indirect lighting, an intercom and built-in minibar.
A million DS built!
The millionth DS, a brand-new DS 21 Pallas Electronic Injection, is produced at the Javel factory on 7 October 1969. In Metallic Sable colour, including the roof, it then goes to the Paris Motor Show, open since 2 October and where its place had been reserved. There, it’s entered into a draw in front of a court bailiff and won by Gilles Delègue, 22, a second-year engineering student at the Ecole Centrale.
The 1970s: the age of maturity
The changes made to the DS in 1970 and 1971 are mainly around its transmission. In September 1970, the DS is offered with a new manual gearbox featuring five gears instead of four as standard, then a year later, an automatic three-speed Borg-Warner gearbox. Before its final farewell in July 1975, after an admirable 20-year career, the DS receives a final upgrade when DS 21 is replaced by DS 23 in September 1972. This last model has a 2,347 cc engine with electronic fuel injection, developing 141 hp for a top speed of nearly 190 km/h.
The last one…
The 1,456,115th and final DS is produced at the Quai de Javel factory on 24 April 1975 at 3 p.m. It is a DS 23 Pallas Electronic Injection in Delta Blue. As the banner on its windscreen indicates, it is also the 1,330,755th DS assembled in this historic factory. It will then be delivered to a driver in Gironde (France) loyal to the brand, whose name has been lost over time but who had owned eight other DS models before it!
DS as cinema star
On screen as well as on the road, the DS quickly makes its mark. The world of cinema gives it leading roles that are remembered to this day. From film noir to comedy, like the major stars it excels in all genres. It can be found, for example, with Brigitte Bardot in The Parisian (1957), with Alain Delon in The Samurai (1967), with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Bourvil in The Brain (1969), with Jean Gabin and Fernandel in That Tender Age (1964), and even with Louis de Funès in Rabbi Jacob (1973). Here again, the DS symbolises elegance, speed and power. In some cases, its futuristic technology is enhanced, even turned into fantasy, as in The Tenth Victim (1965) with Ursula Andress and Marcello Mastroianni, where it has a blue-tinted transparent roof, and in Fantomas Unleashed (1965) with Jean Marais when, equipped with two wings, a retractable fin and two jet engines, it takes off like a plane. Finally, in the unmissable Back to the Future 2 (1989) by Robert Zemeckis and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, it’s a red and yellow sci-fi taxi in an imaginary future set in 2015…
DS: automotive monument and sculpture
A true avant-garde car, from its launch the DS is considered truly sculptural. In 1957, in his famous book Mythologies, the philosopher and writer Roland Barthes sees in it nothing more nor less than “the almost exact equivalent of the great Gothic cathedrals”. In the same year, the reputation of the masterpiece from the Quai de Javel design office is such that, from 7 July to 24 November, it is the only car invited to the 11th Milan Triennal. At the Palazzo Dell’Arte al Parco, it is shown for this event without wheels, fully faired in, and positioned inclined on a central plinth more than a meter above the ground. The very official sounding “International Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial art and Modern Architecture” awards its industrial design prize to the DS’s bodywork.
For the Paris Motor Show in October 1962, the DS which has just had aerodynamic improvements to its front is exhibited like a sculpture. Here again, a car without wheels and with the entire underbody faired in, is depicted in the most original way possible. Like a missile in its launch silo, it is installed completely vertically at the bottom of a circular pit fitted out for the occasion, and mounted on a motorised electric mechanism that slowly turns it around its axis. The effect on visitors is unforgettable. And General de Gaulle, during his official visit, won’t fail to stop to admire it!
DS: ad star!
With the arrival of the DS, a wind of change blows through the Quai de Javel’s advertising communications. The first brochure printed in September 1955, a month before its introduction at the Paris Motor Show, is a true firework display of colour. It is by René Dumoulin. The one titled Air and water, published for the Paris Motor Show in October 1959, placed a body on four huge red balloons floating on water. Intended to illustrate the principle of hydropneumatic suspension, this image by surrealist photographer Pierre Jahan goes around the world. It is still remembered today as an icon of car advertising. From the beginning of the 1960s, DS advertising is the work of Robert Delpire, whose talent as a graphic designer and publisher enhances it.
2014: Launch of the DS Automobiles brand
Founded in Paris on 1 June 2014, DS Automobiles becomes a brand in its own right. Its aim is to further the values of innovation and difference inherited from the 1955 DS in order to embody the French art of travel. In 2025, DS Automobiles offers a global and diverse range with DS 3, DS 4, DS 7 and N°8.
Designed for customers seeking something different, who want to travel the world and enjoy every moment, DS creations stand out through their charismatic design, interior refinement, sophisticated technology and first-class comfort. Combined with a suite of bespoke services, they offer a unique brand experience before, during and after each journey.
With numerous records since its entry into Formula E in 2015, including two double Teams’ and Drivers’ titles, DS Automobiles is at the forefront of electrification and sells each of its models in an electrified version. The Brand also offers 100% electric drivetrains as well as self-charging and plug-in hybrids with up to 360 hp and four-wheel drive. In 2025, DS Automobiles is accelerating its transition to all-electric with the arrival of N°8, a new model offering up to 750 km range.
With a presence in 40 countries, the DS brand has an exclusive distribution network that includes nearly 450 DS STORES around the world.
2025, DS N°8: an invitation to the electric journey
Inspired by the DS AERO SPORT LOUNGE concept, DS N°8 enjoys impeccable quality, extended range and total comfort making it the most serene of electric cars. DS N°8 embodies dynamic serenity more than ever through a new kind of SUV Coupé. DS N°8, the first 100% electric design from DS Automobiles, has a combined range of 750 km (WLTP cycle) and more than 500 km on the motorway thanks to an outstanding Cx of 0.24. With a power output of up to 350 hp, available in two or four-wheel drive, DS N°8 redefines the standards of comfort and embodies a new French Art of Electric Travel.
The DS story continues!
SOURCE: Stellantis
