Will the Dragon harm the Cheetah?

15 July 2022

As with several manufacturers, a separate luxury division exists, for example, Toyota and Lexus, Hyundai and Genesis, so it is with Citröen and DS Automobiles.

Enter the DS E-Tense Performance is an electric concept car.

Little is known at this juncture about the DS E-Tense except that it uses two electric motors mounted on the DS-E’s carbon monocoque chassis. The motors develop 815hp, which, whilst impressive, isn’t surprising since it uses the motors from the DS Techeetah Formula E race car.

Unfortunately for DS, Techeetah will become dissociated from DS Automobiles in August this year because DS has chosen to partner with the Penske Dragon team for the new rules period covering 2023-26.

We frequently are notified about concept cars which often remain undeveloped or used as part of a marketing strategy; evidently, not so, with the E-Tense, Citröen plans to test and evolve the concept.

Since its launch in 2014, DS Automobiles has put electrification at the heart of its strategy; they were the first premium manufacturer to be involved in Formula E. The brand has taken advantage of its success in the electric championship to support its research and development into the long-term evolution of electric motor cars for the retail market.

Not only is the DS E-Tense Performance a very high-performance laboratory it is also an area of exploration for DS Design Studio Paris. The beetle-influenced colour is most striking in the looks, which changes shades depending on how you look.

Two cameras positioned instead of headlamps complete DS E-Tense Performance’s visual identity while enabling valuable data to be collected by this driving laboratory.

It will be interesting to see if this laboratory ever sees the light of day and, equally importantly, what impact Penske’ Dragon’ have on the Te’Cheetah’.