| DS Automobiles | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Background | ||
| Based |  Paris, France
| |
| Founded | 2009 | |
| Industry | Luxury Automobiles | |
| Formula E Record | ||
| Début |  2015 Beijing ePrix
| |
| Total Entries | 47 (47 Starts) | |
| Wins | Poles | FLs |
| 8 | 8 | 5 |
| Total Points | 716 | |
| Current Season | ||
| Team(s) | Techeetah
| |
| Car | DS E-Tense FE23 | |
DS Automobiles, known otherwise simply as DS, are a luxury automotive brand and part of Groupe PSA, formed in 2009 as an off-shoot of Citroën.[1] The DS part of the name alternately means "Different Spirit" or "Distinctive Series", and has been used to restyle Citroën products as its own distinct brand since 2015.[1]
DS first became involved in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship during the 2015/16, becoming one of the first manufacturer's to join the series.[2] The French firm partnered with the race winning Virgin Racing effort to build a powertrain for second FE season, and have continued with the British squad through to the 2017/18 campaign.[3]
In the 2018/19 DS moved their allegiance to Techeetah, forming DS Techeetah, with Jean-Éric Vergne and André Lotterer using their pair of DS E-Tense FE 19s based off the Spark SRT05e.[4]
For 2022/23 DS partnered with Dragon Racing and Penske Autosport to supply them with powertrains, after retaining the services of Vergne and securing the signature of defending Champion Stoffel Vandoorne for the season.[5] The new season would also see a new car for DS, with the DS E-Tense FE23 built around the new-for-2022/23 Spark Generation 3 base chassis.[5]
Background[]
The growing trend among manufacturers in the 2000s to use in-house tuning companies into brands saw the rise of the "DS" moniker in 2009, as Groupe PSA began their own line of premium cars.[1] DS was instantly used to re-model specific Citroën production cars, beginning with minor touches and additional badging.[1] This was steadily increased to entirely new bodywork and styling, before a move in 2015 (2012 in China) to remove all Citroën badging from DS brand cars.[1] This separation has become increasingly apparent, with DS enlarging the number of changes they make to base Citroën designs.[1]
Historically the Citroën DS gained fame as an innovative car in a war torn France, becoming a national symbol and re-launching pad for the Citroën group.[1]
Formula E History[]
DS Automobiles entered the sport in the 2015/16 seasons powering the Virgin Racing team for the second Formula E season as one of he first manufacturers in the sport alongside Venturi, NEXTEV, Renault, Motomatica, ABT Schaeffler and Mahindra, with some teams deciding to continue using the original McLaren electric powertrain from the first season.
DS achieved their first pole and win with Virgin Racing in the 2015/16 season with Sam Bird at the Buenos Aires E-Prix, with the team getting 3 poles in total that season, all achieved by Sam Bird.
For the 2018-19 FE Season DS Automobiles switched from powering the now Envision Virgin Racing team to the Techeetah taking 3 wins over the course of the season, all from ex F1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne, also managing to achieve the first of their Drivers and Teams Championships, with Jean-Eric Vergne winning the Drivers Championship for the team.
DS Techeetah would win both championships for the 2019/20 season, with time with newly signed driver Antonio Felix da Costa, this year winning 4 of the 11 races taking dominant Team and Drivers championship victories.
For the 2022/23 campaign DS would partner with Dragon Racing and Penske, after Techeetah were unable to secure enough funding to continue racing in the series, with DS unwilling to effectively fund their own team in order to keep the former partnership alive.[5]
FE Products[]
DS Automobiles have developed several powertrains to complete in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, having been one of the first manufacturers to join the series when it was opened up to customised powertrains in 2015/16.[2]
Non-Racing Products[]
DS Automobiles currently produces the fully electric DS 3 Hatchback, DS4 hybrid small SUV, DS7 hybrid SUV and DS 9 E-TENSE plug in hybrid sedan.
Links[]
References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 'DS Automobiles', wikipedia.org, (WikiMedia, 10/12/2017), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DS_Automobiles, (Accessed 05/02/2018)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedDS15A - ↑ 'Lynn joins Bird for full-time drive at DS Virgin', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 05/09/2017), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2017/september/lynn-joins-bird-for-full-time-drive-at-ds-virgin/, (Accessed 05/09/2017)
- ↑ 'Techeetah partners with DS for Season 5', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/07/2018), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2018/july/techeetah-partners-with-ds-for-season-5/, (Accessed 23/07/2018)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 'DS Automobiles commits to Gen3 era of Formula E', motorsport.tech, (Motorsport Technology, 11/02/2021), https://motorsport.tech/formula-e/ds-automobiles-commits-to-gen3-era-of-formula-e, (Accessed 19/12/2021)