Successor to French premium brand’s best-selling model will be crucial to its growth plans
DS has revealed the new No7 as the replacement for its best-selling 7 SUV, the French premium brand’s first bespoke car.
Taking its lead from the design of the new DS No8 flagship, the No7 will offer a choice of hybrid and electric powertrains when it launches later this year – as do the Peugeot 5008, Citroën C5 Aircross, Jeep Compass and Vauxhall Grandland with which it shares a platform.
Slotting between the heavily updated No4 hatchback and No8 crossover, the No7 is DS’s entrant in the crucial mid-sized SUV market, in which premium contenders include the hugely popular Audi Q3 and BMW X1.
It’s the most important model in the new DS line-up, taking over from a model that was consistently its strongest seller – and CEO Xavier Peugeot has told Autocar that its launch will be pivotal in the brand’s plan to dramatically increase its market share and its EV sales mix.
“The current DS 7 represented up to 50% of our sales,” he said. “That’s a blockbuster for which we are preparing the launch of a successor – in a quite different context, with more weight of electric sales, and so this is really an important moment and product launch for us.”
The No7 is a complete departure from its predecessor both inside and out – and, at 4.66m long, slightly larger, with five centimetres more metal between the wheels to the benefit of interior space.
It’s more conventionally SUV-shaped than the No8, which heralded a new era of DS design, but retains the defining cues, including a distinctive V-shaped front light signature, the prominent illuminated grille and the options of two-tone paint and large 21in wheels.
The electric version is equipped with the same chunky 97.2kWh battery that endows the No8 with a class-leading range of 466 miles – but, because it has a more traditionally upright silhouette than its larger sibling, it tops out at at 460 in single-motor Long Range form.
That figure is still comfortably one of the longest ranges available in this segment – a feat achieved by what DS refers to as “exceptionally careful aerodynamics”. It claims a drag coefficient of just 0.26, which it says means the No7 can travel more than 280 miles even at motorway speeds.
There’s also a four-wheel-drive version, which adds a motor on the rear axle to boost power from 242bhp to 370bhp and returns a range of 422 miles.
Meanwhile, a cheaper variant equipped with a 73.7kWh battery and a 228bhp front motor offers 337 miles per charge.
Every electric No7 can charge at up to 160kW – a speed that it will maintain between 20% and 55% capacity to give up to 118 miles in as little as 10 minutes, promised DS.
Unlike the No8, the No7 will also be offered from launch with a hybrid powertrain, combining a 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol engine with a small electric motor in the gearbox for 143bhp and 53mpg.
Around town, this powertrain can run with the engine off up to 50% of the time, using energy generated under deceleration, said DS.
The striking interior is modelled on that of the No8, with a wide, 16in touchscreen in the centre of the dashboard (so shaped for easy access by both driver and passenger) supported by a 10in driver’s display and a smattering of physical controls arranged around the centre console.
It also has the same unusual X-spoke steering wheel and an intricately detailed dash panel that extends into the doors to create a cocooning effect.
DS highlighted the upmarket materials and finishes used for all key touchpoints as a primary differentiator in this segment.
Deliveries of the No7 – which is expected to be DS’s best-seller – will get under way later this year, with prices expected to start at around £40,000 for the hybrid and £45,000 for the EV.
It will be built at Stellantis’s factory in Melfi, Italy, alongside the closely related Jeep Compass and a similarly sized new Lancia SUV for European markets that reprises the hallowed Gamma name.
While the No7 is a close technical relation to several more affordable models in the Stellantis portfolio, Xavier Peugeot said it can justify commanding a premium by virtue of its focus on more upmarket design, technology and performance credentials.
“This is one of the strengths and assets of large car maker like Stellantis: you’ve got the opportunity to capitalise on an existing platform, and then to have some synergies in terms of everything which is not so visible to the customer, and try at the same time to stay consistent and coherent with your DNA by capitalising on your real assets,” he explained.
“So what you would expect from a DS car is really elegance, comfort and technology. In terms of design, we believe that we’ve got a striking offer, but journalists and customers will decide that one.
“In terms of technology, we capitalise on, for instance, DS Active Scan suspension, which enables the car to adjust the level of comfort really live when you’re driving – and this also provides a direct connection with technology.”
