Electric car DS N°8 presented: Will it make the leap out of its niche?

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Be honest: have you ever seen a DS9 in the wild in Germany? Then you have discovered an exotic car, because the elegant saloon was registered 48 times last year and 19 times this year up to the end of November. Even for a self-proclaimed luxury brand that is not aimed at the masses, these are staggering figures. Nevertheless, the brand, which is part of the Stellantis group, does not want to turn the concept completely on its head. At least that is clear from the initial key data and images of the DS N°8.

Hatchback or SUV coupé?

First of all, DS is bucking the trend of switching to the globally promising SUV format. The DS N°8 is a hatchback sedan with slightly more ground clearance than absolutely necessary. This is probably why the manufacturer has given the car the designation SUV coupé. At 4.82 m long, 1.9 m wide and 1.58 m high, it is a model that is about as long as a Polestar 4 or a BMW i4. The first pictures show a bulky car with a rather flat window line and a roof that sinks above the rear headrests. The optional glass roof cannot be opened – so no chance for the French president to wave to the people from a hatch in this model. At least the driver can take plenty of luggage with him. DS quotes a trunk capacity of 620  liters.

Assistance

Naturally, a vehicle in this segment comes with all kinds of helpers. These include an assisted lane change, in which a radar reaches up to 75 m to the rear to prevent the driver from abruptly driving in front of a faster car when changing lanes. All you need to do is set a blinker manually. The adaptive cruise control adjusts the speed to the route, traffic and recognized speed limits. Not new, but unusual, is a night vision assistant. An infrared camera should be able to detect body heat at a distance of up to 300 m. Also not a new invention, but not widespread, is the idea of using a camera to record road conditions and prepare the dampers for detected bumps.

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DS N°8 (11 Bilder)

The Wrong Pedal Prevention (WPP) system is designed to detect any confusion between the accelerator and brake pedals. If the accelerator pedal is suddenly pressed hard, even though there is an obstacle in the direction of travel, the system reduces acceleration. It remains unclear why the brakes are not applied immediately. Because although this makes an accident less serious, it does not prevent it. Voice control, which now also cooperates with Chat-GPT in this Stellantis model, can also be considered a form of assistance. It can be used to formulate questions to the car, but also to control certain functions – such as entering addresses in the navigation system. The sound system again comes from Focal and offers an amplifier output of 0.69 kW.

Three drives, two batteries

The DS N°8 is offered exclusively with battery-electric drive systems. Three versions are planned for the launch, and it cannot be ruled out that others will follow.

	Short Range	Long Range	Long Range
Drive	Front	Front	All-wheel
Battery energy content kWh	74	97,2	97,2
Range km	572	750	686
WLTP consumption kWh/100 km	12,9	12,9	14,2
DC charging power kW	160	160	160
Power kW	169	180	257
Boost power kW	191	206	276
Acceleration 0 – 100 km/h	7,7	7,8	5,4
Max. velocity km/h	190	190	190

More attention than usual in the past at Stellantis is being paid to the topic of charging. Pre-conditioning of the battery is always integrated. This means that the maximum charging capacity can also be used in winter. Up to 160 kW is possible at the DC column. This means that the DS N°8 is not among the electric cars that excel in this respect. A time of 27 minutes for charging from 20 to 80 percent – under ideal conditions – is also not record-breaking. Three-phase AC charging with 11 kW is available, with a 22 kW AC charger to be added later for an extra charge. The onboard charger has an integrated V2L (Vehicle to Load) function, which allows the traction battery to be tapped for external consumers.

The DS N°8 can be ordered from the beginning of the year, with deliveries scheduled to start in the summer. The manufacturer has not yet announced prices. So it remains expressly speculation that less than 60,000 euros for the base model is rather unlikely.

(mfz)