1968 Citroen Ds20 on 2040-cars

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Tesla Model 3, Ford In Mexico, French Return | Autoblog Podcast #473

Episode #473 of the Autoblog Podcast is here. This week, Dan Roth, Sebastian Blanco, and Brandon Turkus talk about the Tesla Model 3, Ford's most recent production investment in Mexico, the apparent demise of the Cadillac CT8, and a possible return of French cars to the US market. It all starts with the Autoblog Garage and finishes with some of your questions. Check out the rundown with times for topics, and thanks for listening! Autoblog Podcast #473 Topics Tesla Model 3 Ford Mexico Investment Cadillac CT8 apparently cancelled French cars coming back? In The Autoblog Garage 2016 Subaru Forester 2016 Mazda 6 GT Hosts: Dan Roth, Brandon Turkus, Sebastian Blanco Rundown Intro & Garage - 00:00 Tesla Model 3 - 18:00 Ford Mexico - 44:49 Cadillac CT8 - 49:43 French Cars - 51:22 Q&A - 56:15 Total Duration: 01:02:04 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Feedback Email – Podcast at Autoblog dot com Review the show in iTunes

Citroen and Ines de La Fressange Paris show off two new concepts

Citroën is taking some inspiration from the famous Parisian style with two new, chic concepts based on the DS3 (above) and DS3 Cabrio (right) with input from the fashion house Ines de La Fressange Paris. There aren't any actual mechanical tweaks to them; they just show what the cars could look like with a dash of haute couture.
The DS3 hatchback gets a spray of Ink Blue, satin-finish paint with a slightly contrasting Onyx Black roof, and its Cabrio sibling wears gloss Perla Nera Black body with an Infinite Blue softop roof. Other than the colors, they share a ton of other features with Ines Red mirror caps, 17-inch wheels, an Ines de la Fressange Paris emblem on the center pillar and a subtle Aéropostale red, white and blue trim strip wrapping around the back. They're both handsome vehicles, but it's hard to understand why some extra paint and trim make them concepts.
Inside, the two of them are identical, and their blue, white and red color scheme echoes the French flag. Compared to the relatively subtle exteriors, the dashboard is covered in eye-piercing Ines Red with the company's emblem. The seats are covered in Granite Blue leather with white stitching to get all of the colors in there. The Aéropostale trim strip also gets used again on the seats.

DS Automobiles reimagines the Citroen SM for today

Citroen's most iconic machines run a thoroughly broad gamut from the humble 2CV to perhaps the most striking car it ever produced, the Maserati-powered personal luxury coupe called SM. It's this latter car being revisited by DS, the luxury brand spun off of Citroen with the name of the equally important mid-century Citroen DS. More specifically, it's being re-revisited, as the company revealed back in 2020 a bunch of renderings its designers put together imagining a modern version. According to the Design Director of DS, Thierry Metroz, the company received many comments on those designs and learned that people were "very attached to the iconic models from our heritage" and "they didn’t want the original design to be spoilt." So it took those comments into consideration, and kept playing with the idea until they reached the SM Tribute concept you see above. It's relatively close in size to the original in most respects. It's 1.2 inch longer, 0.8 inch taller, and has 1.4 inch less ground clearance. But it's far wider, gaining an extra 5.5 inches. It's crystal clear that most of its lines are pulled straight from the original, from the full-width headlight and daytime running light wedge at the front to the tapered kamm-style tail. The window openings are all shaped basically the same, including the wrap-around rear hatch glass. But there are updates found everywhere. Most notable are the reworked rear wheel spats that now have semi-circle cutouts to help highlight the 22-inch wheels. The ultra-thin taillights continue around the sides of the car over the top lines of those spats to emphasize the line. The car also features two-tone paint, with the black parts helping highlight the most classic lines of the car along the sides. It also helps hide the aerodynamic extensions and general heft of the SM Tribute's flanks compared to the original. The interior is arguably a bigger departure from the original than the exterior. There are still echoes of the original, such as with the shape of the dash top and concave instrument display, as well as the seats with horizontally stitched cushioning. The concept departs with its concave monolithic center screen, which also adopts a small puck for shifting instead of a chromed lever, and the instruments also are shown on a screen. The distinctive single spoke wheel of the original gives way to a rectangular yoke, and the door panels feature intricately detailed "laser-engraved" leather.