DS celebrates its 10th anniversary with a concept tribute to SM

The low-slung two-door imagines what the original SM might have looked like if it hadn’t been discontinued in 1975

                                        https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                    

by Chris Chilton

5 hours ago

DS Automobiles marked the brand’s first decade as a separate carmaker with the SM Tribute, a concept inspired by the radical Citroën SM of the 1970s.

The low-profile gold and black coupe imagines what the SM coupe designed by Robert Opron launched in 1970 might look like today if it had continued to evolve, rather than going out of production in 1975.

Related: The 2025 DS8 is the latest electric crossover to merge French saloon and sedan

Like the original SM, the concept features a long hood that tapers toward the ground and a glass section that references the part of the nose where European models house their innovative headlights that rotate with the steering wheel.

The partially covered 22-inch rear wheels are a nod to the car’s fully faired rims from the 1970s, and the swept-back C-pillar and wraparound rear window also take inspiration from a machine that must have looked like it had been beamed in from another planet when it debuted at the 1970 Geneva Motor Show.

The retro-inspired styling continues inside, where DS designers led by Thierry Metroz installed ribbed, hammock-shaped seats and an upper dashboard that echoes the contours of the original. But as advanced as the 1970s SM was – in addition to hydropneumatic suspension and swiveling lights, it also offered a fibreglass steering wheel option and variable-assist power steering – it didn’t have a fully digital instrument cluster, nor a rectangular steering wheel containing another digital display.

DS isn’t specifying what engine the concept will power, but the answer would inevitably be electric, which would probably be a perfect fit for a car like this. Electric power wasn’t an option in the 1970s, so the original SM borrowed a 2.7-liter V6 from Maserati, then owner of Citroën.

There’s unfortunately no chance that DS will put the SM Tribute into production in this form, but it looks like some of the ideas seen in it could make their way into future DS projects.

“We don’t tend to disconnect from our other work, we have included a lot of details about what the DS Automobiles models are and our future plans,” explains Metroz.

This is good news, because while the road cars produced by DS Automobiles in its first decade since splitting from Citroën have featured some interesting design details, they have so far completely failed to justify the name borrowed from the iconic DS saloon launched almost 70 years ago.

But with the concept’s debut and the announcement earlier this year that the firm was turning to the original DS to help create a new electric flagship, the next 10 years could be more interesting.