After streamlining the trim levels to just two to simplify customer choice, DS Automobiles, the Stellantis Group’s car brand, could soon be waving goodbye to the smallest model in its range and returning to its roots. No more compact city SUV design, it’s time to embrace the B-segment again, and who knows, maybe even offer a racing version.
DS 3 returns to its origins? This is how the new generation could look like
We are talking about the DS 3, the French manufacturer’s entry-level offering, which, when its name was still unified Citroen-Ds, was nothing more than a mid-size city car perfect for the city; the equivalent of the current Citroen C3, to be clear. The radical change came with the 2018 restyling, when the model grew in size and became more refined in detail, becoming almost an upscale car and certainly losing its city car appearance. At that time the car was called DS 3 Crossback, then it became just DS 3. The result of this operation? A resounding sales flop.
A debacle that now seems to have alarmed the French automaker itself, which has come up with a solution: a classic about-turn. So, for 2026 everything should change for the car in question, starting with its size. It’s back to the B-segment, following the path traced by the Peugeot 208 first and foremost, then also chosen by the Opel Corsa and the latest Lancia Ypsilon. So, the new DS should be based on the Stellantis STLA Small platform and, according to what revealed by L’automobile, should only be available in a full electric version.
Little is known about the project yet, but Thierry Metroz, the brand’s design director, has published a far from cryptic post on his social media profiles. A photo of a car, which looks very much like the previous DS 3, with the question: “Would you like one?” with the hashtags #DS3 and #backtotheroots. From this could also be born the DS3 Racing, a sporty version of the model like the Lancia Ypsilon HF and the Abarth 600e.