Building the DS brand will be a long job, admits BonnefontThe standalone DS brand will take 15 years to establish and could include sales in the US, boss Yves Bonnefont has said.
The upmarket brand was officially separated from parent company Citroën last year, with the reworked DS5 being launched at the Geneva motor show today.
By 2020 there will be six DS models on sale globally – twice the number available in most regions now. They are likely to include a small and mid-size SUV, a reworked DS3, and small and large saloons.
"We start with a strong base, with the history of DS from the 1950s and from the experience of the past five years," said Bonnefont, who is CEO of the DS brand. "However, realistically it will take two product generations to get the brand established. That is how long it took Audi and that, I think, is realistic. When they felt confident enough to enter the C-segment with the Audi A3, that was a signal that they were established."
Bonnefont has targeted launching DS in the world's largest cities, rather than focusing on entire countries, and, as a result, a US relaunch could be possible before the end of the decade.
"The US is the number one premium market in the world," he said. "Today it is not a priority but once the complete turnaround of the PSA Group is complete, we must start to look for new opportunities."
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