The Citroën DS was 20 years ahead of its time — and Citroën could not build enough of them

Every company that builds a product too advanced for its market — a phone with features nobody wants, a car with technology nobody understands — faces the Citroën DS question: is the product ahead of its time, or is the market not ready for it?

The Citroën DS, launched at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, was unlike any car the world had seen. It had hydropneumatic suspension (self-levelling, adjustable ride height), a semi-automatic gearbox, power steering, and a body designed by Flaminio Bertoni, an aeronautical engineer. The car's drag coefficient was 0.38 — lower than most cars built in the 1980s.

The DS was 20 years ahead of its time. The hydropneumatic suspension was not matched by any other manufacturer until the 1970s. The semi-automatic gearbox was not common until the 1990s. The aerodynamic body was not standard until the 1980s. The car was a technical masterpiece.

But Citroën could not build enough of them. The DS was complex to manufacture, and Citroën's factories were not designed for the car's production. The company lost money on every DS it sold. The DS was replaced by the CX in 1974, and Citroën was acquired by Peugeot in 1976. The French auto trade tells the story as the definitive case of a product that was too advanced for the company that built it.

Citroën lost money on every DS sold, and the company was acquired by Peugeot in 1976.

The DS was designed by engineers, not by accountants: the hydropneumatic suspension, the semi-automatic gearbox, and the aerodynamic body were all technical achievements that added cost and complexity

Citroën's factories were not designed for the DS's production. The car was complex to manufacture, and the company lost money on every unit. The DS was a technical success and a commercial failure

The DS was 20 years ahead of its time, but the market was not ready for it. The car's features were not valued by buyers in the 1950s and 1960s, who wanted reliability and simplicity

A product too advanced for its market is a technical success and a commercial failure. The DS was 20 years ahead of its time, but the market was not ready. The question is whether the market is ready.

The Citroën DS is now one of the most collectible cars of the 20th century; clean examples sell for €50,000–€150,000. The car's hydropneumatic suspension was used by Citroën until 2017. The DS is cited in design history as the definitive case of a product that was too advanced for its time.