Coping with the weather in Britain can be summed up in one word: wait. Or in four: This Too Shall Pass. The open-topped version of the Citroën DS3 perfectly suits our peculiar climate, Glenn Brooks reckons. It may even be key to PSA’s future.
There are myths about many things in these islands. Here’s one: Britain is famous for its wet weather but during my two decades here, rarely have I been soaked. Unlike Aussie cities on the Pacific seaboard, where the rain will suddenly belt down in the middle of summer, here in the south west, you get occasional drizzle and all is almost always green. So I absolutely understand why convertibles are so popular in the UK, and less so in Australia where the sun burns quickly and ferociously. Here, we thrill to snatching some rays when we can. But it’s also good to have a perfectly sealed soft-top for those days when the snow or sleet is falling.
Go deeper with GlobalData
If, such as in this case, that roof is made from canvas which slides back like slats, yet only so far as half way down the fixed glass rear window, then no matter – you can smell the flowers and see the birds soaring overhead. It all soon closes up quickly enough if the former start making you sneeze. Or if the latter have been nibbling too many berries.
One of my most memorable drives in the part of the world where I now live was in a January, the metric temperature was a single digit, the roof was down and the seat heaters and fan were set to ‘toasty’. The car was a Mini Cooper S, the road familiar and empty, and the black ice warning light stayed unilluminated: nirvana. The DS3 Cabrio I recently borrowed from Citroën UK was delivered during a period when the seasons were changing – maybe you could say the same about the brand’s parent company’s fortunes.
Family firms seem especially sensitive to the negative publicity that comes from major losses. Similarly, staff layoffs usually only happen when all other avenues have been explored. Yesterday’s missive from Paris spoke of ‘Progress in the industrial and commercial restructuring plan covering 8,000 job positions in France’. That’s cypher for the dismissal of employees or that even more luckless group, temporary workers. Still, for PSA to bounce back, sadly it must shed expenses, lose capacity, close a plant or two and hope that that is enough. Not since it nearly choked trying to digest the operations of the former Chrysler Europe some 35 years ago has the Peugeot family had to face une crise économique of such magnitude.
After the bitter tasting medicine can come the recuperation, in some cases. PSA does seem to believe that the first signs of health afresh are on their way. Witness the optimism elsewhere in the 23 October quarterly financials announcement from new product (Peugeot 2008 and 308 ramp-ups). There was also something to have shocked some Europe-based readers who have missed what’s been happening in the UK for more than 18 months now: ‘The European automotive markets grew by 2.5% in the third quarter of 2013’. Growth is one thing, profits are another. To be fair to PSA it is clearly determined to turn the business around.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataWhat do the above thoughts have to do with me driving a DS3 Cabrio? Well, this kind of car is exactly where PSA’s future needs to be. Prior to the production version of the hatchback model being revealed at September 2009’s Frankfurt motor show, no-one really thought this brand could sell B segment cars for twenty, even twenty five thousand pounds with some high-spec options and accessories added. The D-Sport model grade car I had on test was priced from GBP19,680 and came with options which took it up to GBP22,445. That seems like good value. The six-speed gearbox is a joy to use but strangely, you cannot have an automatic gearbox with this, the most powerful engine – the 5FU8 series turbocharged 1,598cc THP 155 (115kW, and you just read how many horsepower).
I’ve noted my preference for this car’s interior over that of the soon to be replaced Mini three-door/Mini Cabriolet before, but these things are subjective so I won’t bore for Britain on that topic. Suffice to say, BMW will charge you from-GBP15,000ish for the base Mini Cabrio, which is in line with Citroen prices, but in the Mini’s case, prices go way north of the low 20s that a top-spec DS3 Cabrio costs. The way this car has rebuilt the image of Citroën since the self-harming days of multi-thousand cashback deals during the previous decade could be a textbook study.
Just as Land Rover must continue to make each of its vehicles best in class off-road, despite models such as the Evoque and Range Rover Sport looking decidedly, well, sporty, so too Citroën must make every future DS car or crossover as much fun to drive as the DS3. The build quality also must remain first rate, the styling invitingly off-beat and cool (think Juke, not Rodius/Korando Turismo), and the roadholding/handling mix as good as the segment leaders.
The DS3 is the entry point for the DS sub-brand, and so much of its future is all about China. The CAPSA joint venture now has its own plant in the city of Shenzhen, so far just for the DS5 but expect a sedan version of the existing DS4 five-door, plus a crossover called DS6 or possibly DSX6 as well as the ‘DS9’ successor for the former Citroën C6 to be added within the next 12-18 months. Will the DS3 be built there too? Not for the moment, but perhaps the successor model will be – more on that car shortly.
Here’s another quote from PSA’s statement to hedge fund managers, analysts and the like from 24 hours ago: “The strategy to move the Peugeot and Citroën brands up market continued apace in the third quarter, with premium models accounting for 19% of consolidated sales at the end of September, versus 18% in the same period of 2012. The four diesel hybrid models (Peugeot 3008HY4, 508RXH, 508HY4 and Citroën DS5HY4) contribute to the Group’s technological advance and reduction of average rate of CO2. They account for over 30% of Citroën DS5 sales, 16% of Peugeot 508 sales and more than 10% of Peugeot 3008 sales”.
If PSA can get back to black ink in all European markets some time in the next few years, these high priced models as well as their successors and some additional cars have the potential to even take over as the main money spinners for the group.
The DS3, its cabrio derivative and the other models in the range are not some fashionable one-cycle products, they’re the key to the parent company’s return to health and its eventual dream of margins in double figures. And why not? Big-profit pick-ups and SUVs are why Ford just pulled in a mighty ten percent operating margin for its North American operations’ quarter three numbers but this was a mass manufacturer on its knees just a few years ago.
PSA doesn’t have anything like the debt load that so weighed down FMC, nor is it saddled with enormous, unfunded pension provisions. So who is to say that with some continued smart management decisions – invest, invest, invest in new products, just as Ford did – the French automaker won’t eventually prosper?
Keeping lots of cash flowing is what PSA most needs right now, so the margins on cars like the DS3 are crucial. Customers will push back if Citroën gets greedy but it doesn’t seem to be. The test Cabrio had metallic paint at GBP495, and the DSport Plus Pack for GBP975 but you can also add chrome-effect paint for the door mirror covers; a white, blue or grey dashboard with matching gearknob or even carbon fibre trim; a couple of different leather seat coverings; double chrome exhaust finishers; and various higher-priced big wheels and tyres.
I am also yet to see a DS3 that appears to be overdone and, shall we say, in questionable taste. That is a very good sign for the image of DS cars in general – the worst thing Citroën could do is flood the market with over-accessorised limited edition models.
A sports version, the DS3 Racing, was an early limited-run variant from mid-2010 and with resale values and brand building in mind, just 1,000 cars were built. This one had a specially tuned 200hp 1.6-litre turbo engine (+50hp), wider tracks and lowered suspension. Come next summer and the DS3’s expected mid-life facelift, don’t be surprised if another high priced and high performance derivative is launched. The cabrio body style didn’t exist in 2010 but I can easily see a GBP30,000 open model being launched in 2014. What happens after that?
The Poissy plant northwest of Paris builds not just the DS3 and closely related Citroën C3 but also the Peugeot 208 with which they share the PF1 platform. The next C3 is due in 2016, a year ahead of the follow-up to the DS3 and it should be the first car to use the ‘upgraded low CO2 small car platform for Europe and other regions’ which GM and PSA announced they were developing in October 2012.
The replacement for the Opel/Vauxhall Adam was also due to use what PSA now terms the ‘B-common’ architecture. However, this JV platform may be abandoned, according to another note in that 23 October statement from PSA. If that happens, the C3, DS3 and 208 successors as well as the 2016 C3 Picasso and 2018 Peugeot 2008 should instead be underpinned by EMP1, a PSA-only evolution of B-common. As for Opel/Vauxhall, logic suggests it would employ General Motors’ yet to be revealed G2XX architecture for all future B segment models – but not next year’s Corsa; it’s on GM Korea’s Gamma 2.
The next DS3 might also nicely link back to the era of Citroën’s original DS and its multiple avant garde engineering innovations: this could well be the first model to offer PSA’s forthcoming Hybrid Air system. The firm announced in January that it was working with Robert Bosch on technology that would allow small cars to run partially on compressed air. If PSA is as clever as it needs to be, it will quickly add to the fascination generated by this new marketing term and make Hybrid Air an extra cost and therefore bountiful part of future small DS line vehicles. There could even be more to come: anyone else envisaging a cheap to build (at TPCA/Kolin in the Czech Republic) but high margin new DS1 based on next year’s new Citroën C1?
