PARIS -- The first jointly developed models for Stellantis' three premium brands -- Alfa Romeo, DS and Lancia -- could appear by 2024, as the newly created group seeks to break through in the profitable segment.
Marion David, the product director at DS, said future models from the brands would share common premium features including drivetrains that would separate them from mainstream Stellantis brands such as Peugeot.
“We are working with our Italian colleagues on specific premium modules, powertrains and features to differentiate the premium brands from the mainstream brands,” she said Wednesday at a launch event for the DS 4 compact hatchback.
Under the Stellantis organization chart, Alfa Romeo, DS and Lancia are designated as premium brands. New Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato is the synergies coordinator for the three brands. Imparato was CEO of the Peugeot brand at PSA Group.
David said that a DS product plan announced in 2017, in which one new model would be launched every year for six years until 2023, would remain in place. The DS 4 is the fourth model in the cycle.
DS was originally a subbrand of Citroen but became a stand-alone brand in 2014, with high ambitions for Chinese sales and production that fizzled out, although European sales have outpaced the market in the last two years.
"The cars that are already a work in progress will continue and be launched," David said, "and then for the next generation we are focused on making the synergies that are the reason for the [Stellantis] merger." Those models will appear in 2024 or 2025, she said.
She said having three premium brands in Stellantis, compared with one in PSA, would make it easier to create a separation in market position above the mainstream brands, because common premium features could be shared across more volume.
