Citroën DS History

Unveiled at the 1955 Paris Motor Show after 18 years of secret development, the DS 19 is one of the most dramatic debuts in automotive history: in the first 15 minutes of the show, 743 firm orders were placed; by the end of the 10-day event, Citroën had taken 80,000 deposits. The DS broke entirely with automotive convention — the self-levelling hydropneumatic suspension (developed by Paul Magès), semi-automatic gearbox, power steering, power brakes, and single-spoke steering wheel presented a vision of motoring from another decade. Designer Flaminio Bertoni's aerodynamic body, with its blended nose and near-tailfinless rear, amplified the futuristic effect.

Over 20 years and three series, the DS matured from the original DS 19 through DS 20, DS 21, and DS 23 variants with progressively larger engines. The convertible Décapotable (cabriolet), converted by coachbuilder Henri Chapron, became the presidential car of choice for Charles de Gaulle — and famously shielded him from an assassination attempt in 1962, when the hydropneumatic suspension kept the shot-tyre car driveable long enough to escape. The estate Break and the lower-specification ID variant completed the range.

Approximately 1.455 million DS and ID cars were built before production ended on 24 April 1975. The DS won multiple major rally victories, earned a reputation as the most comfortable long-distance car available anywhere, and was voted the most beautiful car of all time in a 1999 survey of European motoring journalists — a title it still regularly reclaims in retrospective polls.