The Citroën DS, launched in 1955, became famous for its hydropneumatic suspension and futuristic shape.
Citroën unveiled the DS at the 1955 Paris Motor Show, where its aerodynamic body and advanced engineering attracted enormous attention. Designer Flaminio Bertoni created the distinctive shape, while engineer André Lefèbvre led the technical development.
The car’s hydropneumatic system used hydraulic fluid and nitrogen-filled spheres to provide self-levelling suspension. The same hydraulic system also operated features including the brakes and, on many versions, the steering and clutch. This gave the DS an unusually smooth ride and allowed it to maintain ride height under changing loads.
The DS was not the first car with every one of these technologies, but its combination was unusually sophisticated. Readers sometimes confuse the DS with the earlier Traction Avant, another important front-wheel-drive Citroën, but the DS was a separate model introduced two decades later.