DESIGN ICONS | DESIGN
Citroën DS: A ‘goddess’ of a car

By Jonathan Glancey
2nd October 2014

Beloved of philosophers and presidents alike, the Citroën DS caused a sensation when it was launched in 1955. Jonathan Glancey tells the story of a French icon.

This week, the Divine DS concept car is launched at the Paris Motor Show. DS are letters that spell “Citroën”, as well as Deese – or goddess – loud and clear, and have done so since the mid-1950s when the legendary Citroen DS, one of the most stylish and influential cars ever built, made its debut at the Salon de Paris on 5 October 1955.

The Divine DS is certainly luxurious, assuming your idea of luxury stretches to an interior laced with Lesage embroidery, Swarovski crystals, switches decorated with gemstones and more digital gizmos on display than you can find in an Apple store. This is clearly a car for new markets, notably China and south-east Asia. From an engineering point of view it offers little new: the Divine is mostly about fashion, ambience and, it has to be said, bling.

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When it was revealed to the public in 1955, the Citroën DS was truly sensational. A seamless fusion of innovative engineering, new materials and imaginative design, it caught the mood of the time. Citroen took 12,000 orders on the first day of the Paris show. At a time when France was struggling back towards la vie quotidienne, here was a futuristic and utterly French design that made people proud.

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From the Camera of Alex Tremulis: The 1955 Paris Motor Show

12/9/20

Take a walk through the crowded aisles of the 1955 Paris Motor Show with Alex Tremulis. Held the first week in October, his rare color Ektachrome Transparencies capture the details of some of the most revolutionary cars the automotive styling world had seen to date. These photos, taken by Alex Tremulis while he was head of Ford's Advanced Design Studio, represent the styling cues that captured his attention and would influence the design of Ford's future models in one form or another for many years to come. Cleaning the once-airborne tar and nicotine off all the fresh paint was surely a daily ritual...

Citroen DS

Citroen DS

Citroen DS

Citroen DS

1956 Citroen DS 19 at the Paris Motor Show (October 1955)
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42e Salon de Paris 1955
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Isetta, Renault Grand Pavoi et Frégate, Simca Aronde, simcamatic, Peugeot 403, Talbot 2.5 lit, Citroën DS... autant de noms qui sont évoqués dans ce reportage croustillant avec commentaires d'époque. Régalez-vous.

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Citroën DS

Citroën DS



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Model history



Turn indicators were mounted in the upper corners of the rear window, tail and brake lights integrated in chromed rear bumper.

After 18 years of secret development as the successor to the Traction Avant, the DS 19 was introduced on October 6, 1955 at the Paris Motor Show. In the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 orders were taken, and orders for the first day totalled 12,000. During the 10 days of the show, the DS took in 80,000 deposits; a record that stood for over 60 years,[8] until it was eclipsed by the Tesla Model 3 which received 180,000 first day deposits in March 2016.[9] The original list price for a 1959 ID19 was US$2,833 ($26,335 in 2021 dollars).

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