Citroen’s
DS Automobiles has really outdone themselves with the concept car
they’ve come up with for this year’s Geneva Motor Show. Called DS
E-TENSE, this concept boasts not just an Avant-garde design – which is
expected of a DS car – but also a number of hugely interesting
technologies, including a 100 percent electric drivetrain.
What a way to enter the world of EV
motoring! That is, if DS E-TENSE spawn a production model some day,
which is not an outlandish thought since Citroen says this car
“encapsulate the brands stylistic and technological vision, and point
towards DS’s future with its high-performance electric powertrain.” So
finger’s crossed we’ll soon see something similar from DS on the market –
probably not so crazy looking, but with enough insanity mixed in it to make the car interesting.
Citroen DS E-TENSE with its jewel-like
LED Vision headlamps is also a meeting point for leading French luxury
brands. The concept comes with a helmet harness by Moynat, a one-off
edition watch by BRM Chronographers, and a first-class audio system by
Focal. These are cool stuff, but they don’t really matter. We don’t
think anybody would even notice them on the show floor.
What deserves your attention is the
powertrain in the E-TENSE as it could underpin some of the future
production DS models. It’s a 402 horsepower motor with 516Nm of torque,
fed by lithium-ion batteries are situated under the car’s chassis for a
low center of gravity. The claimed range for this system is 310 km mixed
cycle (or 360km urban cycle) which isn’t bad given the performance it
delivers: 4.5 seconds from 0 to 100 km and top speed of 250km/h. The
performance is also good considering the weight of the car which, in
spite of a carbon monocoque chassis, is still on the heavy side at 1.8
tons.
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