Citroen’s DS Automobiles has really outdone themselves with the concept car they’ve come up with for this year’s Geneva Motor Show. Called DS E-TENSE, this concept boasts not just an Avant-garde design – which is expected of a DS car – but also a number of hugely interesting technologies, including a 100 percent electric drivetrain. 

What a way to enter the world of EV motoring! That is, if DS E-TENSE spawn a production model some day, which is not an outlandish thought since Citroen says this car “encapsulate the brands stylistic and technological vision, and point towards DS’s future with its high-performance electric powertrain.” So finger’s crossed we’ll soon see something similar from DS on the market – probably not so crazy looking, but  with enough insanity mixed in it to make the car interesting.

Citroen DS E-TENSE with its jewel-like LED Vision headlamps is also a meeting point for leading French luxury brands. The concept comes with a helmet harness by Moynat, a one-off edition watch by BRM Chronographers, and a first-class audio system by Focal. These are cool stuff, but they don’t really matter. We don’t think anybody would even notice them on the show floor.

What deserves your attention is the powertrain in the E-TENSE as it could underpin some of the future production DS models. It’s a 402 horsepower motor with 516Nm of torque, fed by lithium-ion batteries are situated under the car’s chassis for a low center of gravity. The claimed range for this system is 310 km mixed cycle (or 360km urban cycle) which isn’t bad given the performance it delivers: 4.5 seconds from 0 to 100 km and top speed of 250km/h. The performance is also good considering the weight of the car which, in spite of a carbon monocoque chassis, is still on the heavy side at 1.8 tons.