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DS is an out-and-out premium car brand like BMW Audi Mercedes-Benz, so the DS brand needs to be supported by a large car like the DS 9. This is the news revealed by the new CEO of DS in a recent public interview with the media.

A few days ago, DS's new CEO Beatrice Beatrice Foucher said that DS brand launched its latest large car DS 9, the real meaning is to position the DS brand as a luxury brand. In Futcher's view, as a flagship model, the DS 9 shows the most advanced technology and car-building technology of the PSA Group everywhere, and products like the DS 9 can be calibrated with nearly 30% of the high-end models in Europe, so the DS 9 should be a luxury model.

In fact, at the beginning of our understanding of the DS brand, we also knew that it was a high-end brand under the PSA Group, which belongs to a high-end brand under the parent brand, like Hyundai's Genisis, Toyota's Lexus, Honda's Acura and Nissan's Infiniti. When it comes to second-tier luxury brands, it is understandable.

Although the DS brand was founded for a long time, but its real time is not long, it was officially established under Changan Automobile in 2011, so that in everyone's eyes it is only a "very new" high-end brand, and does not have much history, so it is far from the Japanese three high-end brands in terms of sales, and even the Genisys under Hyundai is not enough.

According to the global performance of the DS brand in 2019, cumulative sales were only 62500. Of these, 56393 units were sold in Europe, the core market, accounting for a large share, while in China and Southeast Asia, DS sales were only 2110, down nearly 50 per cent from a year earlier.

Even though the DS brand was only 24600 in 2015 at its peak in China, it has been in decline since then, and gradually declined to 16100, 6100 and 3900 in the following years, indicating that the "luxury positioning" of the DS brand is not suitable in the Chinese market.

Due to years of losses, Changan Peugeot Citroen (Changan PSA) joint venture had to decide to dissolve. Changan Automobile has signed an "equity transfer agreement" with Shenzhen Qianhai Ruizhi Investment Co., Ltd., transferring all its 50% stake in Changan PSA to Qianhai Ruizhi, with a transfer amount of 1.63 billion yuan, according to a notice issued by Changan Automobile on December 31, 2019. Although it is reported that Baoneng will become the receiver of Changan PSA, the strategic planning and operation mode of Changan PSA in the future have not been disclosed, or adopt the cooperation mode of contract production.

At present, the DS brand has five models, three SUV models and two sedan models. According to PSA's latest plan, its flagship DS 9 model, which is targeted at medium-sized cars, will only be manufactured in Chinese factories and sold to the global market.

According to information previously declared by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the car is still produced by Changan Peugeot Citroen Motor Co., Ltd., which means that DS 9 will be put into production at the Shenzhen plant and is scheduled to be officially launched in the second half of 2020.

Although the DS 9 is a standard Audi A4 in the PSA product plan, the DS 9 is based on the PSA Group EMP2 modular platform, which is the same platform as the Peugeot 508.

The overall design continues the unique style of DS, the family hexagonal grille is connected to the headlights on both sides; the side car design is relatively straight and the whole is relatively neat; the rear light group style with diamond grain is integrated into the tail, and there are metal chromium plated strips to connect the lights on both sides, according to the official, this is a salute classic design. The overall body ratio is very close to that of Peugeot 508. the length / width / height is 4933mm/1855mm/1468mm and the wheelbase is 2895mm, which is a standard medium-sized car.

In terms of interior decoration, there are two styles of interior decoration, the black interior is made of a large area of Alcantara material, and the brown interior is covered with leather. The overall interior design continues the unique style of the DS brand.

In terms of power, the DS 9 will be equipped with a plug-in hybrid system. The new car's power system is based on a 1.6T engine with a total power of 228hp, with a pure electric range of 40-50km under WLTP conditions and an eight-speed automatic transmission. In the future, DS 9 will also launch a high-performance version of 253hp and 365hp + all-wheel drive.

If for PSA Group, the DS brand launched the DS 9 flagship model to consolidate the brand's definition of luxury manufacturers, then it is believed that the pricing of DS 9 will still be on the high side, which means that Changan PSA will continue to survive in China with a "high-end positioning", then the DS brand will not have much hope in China.

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