When the Citroën DS was unveiled on 6-Oct-1955 at the Paris Motor Show, the world stood still for a moment. In a decade still rebuilding from the ruins of war, the hashtag#DS arrived not simply as a car, but as a vision — a declaration that progress could be beautiful, that technology could serve grace.

The mid-1950s were a time of contradictions: austerity and optimism, reconstruction and imagination. Europe’s cities were being rebuilt; industry was rediscovering creativity. In that fragile balance, the DS appeared like an artifact from another planet — a synthesis of engineering precision and sculptural poetry.

The renowned french philosopher Roland Barthes captured this shock in his essay “La DS – la nouvelle hashtag#déesse”: the DS was a “cathedral of modern times,” a sacred object of industrial civilization, crafted not merely for utility but for awe. it embodied “the best of human creation — where art and function reconcile.”

And indeed, it did.

The DS broke every convention: hydropneumatic suspension, iconic design, later on directional lighting, and a level of comfort that felt decades ahead. But more than the sum of its innovations, the DS changed how society perceived the automobile. It was not only transport and hashtag#mobility — it was culture, identity, aspiration.

70 years later, that idea still matters.

Today, DS Automobiles carries this legacy forward — not as nostalgia, but as continuity. The spirit of the DS is visible in the brand’s focus on avant-garde design, electrification, and sustainable luxury. In a world where mobility is redefined by technology and climate awareness, DS reminds us that innovation without emotion is empty, and beauty without purpose is fragile.

Automotive hashtag#culture has always been more than engineering. It reflects who we are, and who we want to become. It shapes industries, communities, and even nations. In 1955, the DS stood as a symbol of hope and progress, an icon like the Tour Eiffel in Ville de Paris; in 2025, it remains a reminder that the human dimension — creativity, design, and craftsmanship — still drives our future.

For many of us who have dedicated decades to preserving and understanding this heritage, this anniversary is more than a date.

It is a call to remember that culture and economy are not opposites — they depend on each other. Every innovation, every job in the mobility sector stands on the foundation of stories like this.

As we celebrate 70 years of the DS, we celebrate not only an icon of hashtag#automotive history, but the enduring idea that technology can inspire, not just function — that a car can be, in Barthes’ words, “a miracle object.”

Happy 70th anniversary to the goddess — and to everyone believing that the future of mobility begins with respect for its past.

(essay by the ACI President)

(Photo created by AI, (C) SJoest)