DownsideUpDesign

This also happens to have just been named as the “Most Beautiful Car of All Time” by Classic & Sportscar.

The result wasn’t gleaned from any old survey of C&S readers, either. The panel of 20 included Ian Callum (Jaguar XK), Marcello Gandini (Lamborghini Cuntach, Lanica Stratos), Leonardo Fioravanti (Ferraris Datona, Dino and 308GTB) and the legendary Giorgetto Giugiaro (Fiat Panda, VW Golf Mk 1, Lotus Esprit).

Amongst them, these boys have designed some of the most beautiful and iconic vehicles of the 20th and 21st century (other than the DS) so for all to agree that the DS is tops is a recommendation that comes with megaton weight behind it.

Sadly, the story has a downside:

Look at this modern “DS” and tell me with a straight face that it in any way lives up to the beauty and mystique of the original. I dare you… No, I didn’t think so.

Let us raise our glasses to post-humously congratulate the Citroen of 1955, Flaminio Bertoni and his beautiful Déesse  and wish the Citroen of 2009 the best as they learn to play with branding fire.

Classic & Sportscar via Car Body Design.

A couple of days ago I wrote about Citroen’s decision to revive the DS moniker as a premium brand.

This is the underwhelming result. The “DS Inside” concept looks like Citroen’s take on a Mini, mashed up with a bit of SUV and MPV for good measure. I don’t actually mind it’s bull-dog stance, bi-color paint and funky B-Pillar/glazing treatment but what kind of a name is “DS Inside”? If there is a Déesse inside, she’d be screaming to be let out of her dowdy purgatory so she can resume her rightful place in automotive heaven.

I don’t have a problem with Citroen trying to shift up market (hey, all the mid market manufacturers are trying it) but I think it’s an epic mistake to sully the DS name with a car that doesn’t come anywhere near the sheer fabulousness of the original. Although images of the interior have not yet been leaked, I’m pretty certain that it won’t turn this particular personal nightmare into a dream come true.