In the always-on, always-jaded internet age, concept cars are tricky things to get right. Leaks and speculation can remove an element of surprise, while homogenous designs and forms drown under background noise in an era when every story has a shelf life of about 20 minutes. However, every so often, something exciting still happens. DS Automobiles, a premium offshoot of Citroën, has just paid homage to one of the coolest cars ever to come from France with something called the SM Tribute. No prizes for guessing what the first two letters of that name refer to.
The Citroen SM, made from 1970 to 1975, is one of the best cars of all time. It’s captivatingly, studiously beautiful, opulent in an indulgent mid-century modern way, and simply a starship on the technological front. Sure, it might not have enjoyed the greatest reputation for reliability, but think about it — we’re talking about French oleopneumatic suspension and an Italian 90-degree V6 in a pre-internet age of American mechanics. If you weren’t from the continent or didn’t train with Citroën, it was unlike anything you’d ever seen before, what with its incredibly quick DIRAVI steering, up-and-down ride height, and optional fiberglass wheels.
Adding to the mysterious allure of this mesmerizing grand tourer, nobody has firmly come to a consensus on what SM actually means. The “S” could well come from Project S, but the second letter? While the phrase Série Maserati is often bandied about, others, perhaps with more whimsy, take SM to mean ‘Sa Majesté’ — ‘Her Majesty’ in French. Seems fitting, doesn’t it?
It’s a wonder that it’s taken this long for DS — Citroën’s luxury offshoot, so think French Infiniti — to evoke the SM, but I suspect there’s a reason for that. If you’re going to do a tribute to the Citroën SM, you need to obsess over it, sear it into your frontal lobe over months, perhaps even years. Indeed, the groundwork for this concept was laid back in 2020, so let’s take a look and see what we’ve ended up with.
Right out of the gate, the SM Tribute is absolutely, unmistakably related to the SM, but it’s taken a more considered approach to retro rather than just smearing it on with a trowel. The silhouette does a good job of evoking the SM’s front-mid-engined front-wheel-drive proportions thanks to a long dash-to-axle ratio, while the bulk of the bodyside surfacing and the rear window surround are indisputably SM derived.
However, several elements on the original car have been substantially reinterpreted. For instance, the SM had wheel spats, and this tribute goes even more bonkers with punctuated wheel spats that almost evoke motorcycle swing arms. It’s a similar deal up front, where the faired-in nose of the original SM makes way to a massive display panel that’s pure concept car flight of fancy. Oh, and then there’s the fact that this concept is some 5.5 inches wider than an original SM, yet only around 1.2 inches longer, which certainly has an effect on things.
However, not everything is a runaway success. While the bronze parts of the body are very SM, the gloss black bits down the quarter panels are very Renault Fuego. Close, but not quite. I’m also not sure about the projected infotainment system. It’s extremely concept car, but in something like this, you almost expect the graphics to look a bit more, well, future. On the plus side, DS has nailed the rolled leather upholstery, another pinch of ’70s swagger.
Still, even with the controversy, it’s worth noting that the original SM is undeniably gorgeous from some angles and yet a bit frumpy from others. It’s a vehicle that sparks dialogue, and even though this tribute is sure to provoke similar conversations, it seems like more of a mission statement than anything concrete. As DS Automobiles design director Thierry Metroz stated in a press release:
“The DS DESIGN STUDIO PARIS team had fun with an ambitious project. We have respected the original design through its spirit and details. We have done a transcript and reinterpretation of the SM. But as it is not our habit to disconnect from our other work, we have included a lot of details about what DS Automobiles models and our future projects are.”
Please, if you’re listening, just do this. Obviously, the screen on the front and the display in the steering wheel simply can’t make production, but the world yearns for something like this. Everything else in the DS lineup is upscale but rather pedestrian-looking, and while a captivating, inspiring grand tourer won’t set sales charts alight, it’ll reignite a certain degree of passion, and more importantly, get people looking at DS.
(Photo credits: DS Automobiles)
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Citroen SM is a dream car. This new one isn’t at all (way too much wheel, not enough waft), but if you’re going to take inspiration from something then take it from the best.
I think it’s beautiful and if they sold it in the US, I would definitely be checking this out. Yes, it has a lot of quirky bits, but people like me love different and quirky.
This does capture some of the spirit of the SM but then messes it up with “aren’t I clever” things like the cutout wheel spats and Renault Fuego trim.
At risk of sounding like an AI prompt, do an SM in the style of Flaminio Bertoni. This is an interesting what if since Bertoni died in 1964, and might have been fired anyway after the Ami 6.
The wagon wheels ruin the exterior, that stupid steering rectangle thing ruins the interior.
Seriously if you’re going for OOOOH! DIFFERENT! why not put in a steering triangle? Nobody’s done THAT before. Not enough? How about an infinity symbol? Or a Mobius strip? Maybe a constantly changing diameter Ouroboros tickles your fancy. Or ALL the above in one overly thought out, overly complicated solution to a problem that never existed.
Ugh!
I like it, but why is it so damned big and bulky? The original is NOT a particularly small car to start with.
I see a lot of Renault Fuego in there but that’s also a Robert Opron design so I will allow it.
Aha! That I did not know.
I still hold a grudge against my father for getting the more practical Renault Alliance rather than the sportier Fuego Turbo. What’s a few extra 1983 era thousand dollars.
I thought Fuego too. And as I write this on a train in the South of England I am about to go past one rusting gently in a farmers field, where it has been for most of not all of the 15 years I’ve taken this line. I think possibly Fuegos (Fuegi? Don’t go there) came in the same metallic bronze colour.
“…more considered approach to retro rather than just smearing it on with a trowel.”
Just smearing it on with a trowel is a great description of a lot of retro design, where the designers draw a 2024 model year car and then paste one or two old school design features awkwardly onto the shape of the new car, and it doesn’t jive. To an extent, I’d describe Mustang and Corvette taillights that way. Definitely on the Mach E.
So it’s interesting that the designers here didn’t do that, and did a much better job of retaining the original vibe. What they did is they kept basically the proportions of the original, since proportions matter much more to an overall feeling than headlight graphic treatment does, even if some designers seem to be too stupid to understand that.
I very much appreciate that they kept the distinctive C-pillar Y-shaped crease thing that was one of the most distinctive features of the original, even if they watered it down a lot. I appreciate that they kept the low hoodline and long axle to dash. I appreciate that they kept some kind of rear wheel cover, if only a symbolic one, and I quite like the rear end/taillight treatment that feels respectful of the original but new and interesting at the same time.
But the whole car is too tall, the windshield/greenhouse is far too curved, and their greatest sin was insisting on carrying a strong curved beltline all the way to the back, instead of gently fading it out after the C-pillar “Y” like in the original. And, as always, looks stupid with donk rims.
Meh. I’ll take the original. A friend’s dad had one. It was mind bendingly cool.
Anything worth mentioning? I know about the “stands jacked up on 3 wheels” party trick but not much else.
Compared to the sixties and early seventies Detroit hulking junk (or the copycats of Detroit styling from Japan), it looked like the future. It also pulled off looking elegant while so different.
When I found out that overseas they had pivoting headlamps, which were disabled in North America, I was in a tough spot emotionally.
It’s honestly just about the coolest car
The cutouts at the top of the rear tire cover, I just can’t. It’s like one those long sleeve shirts with the shoulders cut out.
Remember the trend of long sleeves that were part glove wrapping around the thumbs? :SHUDDER:
Wow, that looks absolutely horrible! Just too damn much going on.
You didn’t have to REINTERPRET shit, Thierry. You just had to COPY and, in doing so, show some respect to Robert Opron, who was a better car designer that you will ever be.
You should have limited yourself to doing what he couldn’t do back then because it was not yet technically possible, such as inclined A-pillars.
The wheel design is good, I’ll give that to you, and this isn’t something that can be said of almost any other wheel nowadays. Just scale them back to 15 inches and keep the proportions of the car exactly as they were.
And, for everything that’s sacred, don’t touch those fairings, spats, or whatever you want to call them. Just don’t, and you’ll see how everything will be fine.
Sounds like you sir need an SM2.
https://www.sm2.fr/sm2/en/
It should be a Citroen, DS is a bullshit brand that shouldn’t have ever existed in the first place.
Like Ram
Same with Seat and Cupra. Marketing does weird things to car brands.
EDIT: read this comment wrong
Yes!
I was brought up in a Citroen family, DS is bullshit.
But Stellantis needs MOAR brands!
It looks stubbier than the original, in a bad way. Would still drive it to some sun-soaked southern European destination I can’t afford.
I had Matchbox Citroen SM as a little kid (1981 or so), it was light blue metallic. Thing looked like a spaceship compared to contemporary US cars.
I had the same one. It had a red and white decal on the roof IIRC.
No decal was ever on mine and it may have been a long roof. I bet Mom still has it in the cellar.
Mine is from the 70’s and was red (my brother repainted it tho). Still have it, along with a blue one I found at a garage sale years ago. The blue one has decals on the hood, roof and hatch. Can’t recall if the red one did.
Le gasp! Take my le money s’il vous plait.
Zut alores! Take mine as well, or I shall mock you a second time (sniff)!
I like it, though perhaps not as much as the original SM. That’s probably my vintage speaking. I always wished the SM had included a shooting brake in the lineup. I’ve seen one-off conversions that did not impress. The DS wagon is still my favorite Citroen. It’s CX descendent, though superior in most respects, wasn’t as engaging a design. The SM coupe was both beautiful and innovative. This SM concept has managed to capture most of that design spirit without slavish mimicry. Nice write up.
Loved the original SM, and loved it even more after I was able to put some mileage on one. Luxurious, fast and, after a short period of driver acclimatization, as wonderful a long-distance cruiser as has ever sat on four wheels.
Don’t love the “tribute.” To me, it’s overdone and not a unified design, with too many trendy cues that won’t age well. The interior is just plain awful.
Citroen got it right the first time.
“Citroen got it right the first time.”
That can be said of so many concepts from so many manufacturers! I like the original better as well, but would love to see something (anything!) like this on today’s roads. I love DS for at least thinking about it and showing us what could be.
Don’t disagree, but for me a re-imagining has to be better, and this one doesn’t strike me that way.
If you can’t do that, why not dust off the original and put it out there again? I’d go for that.
Maybe not better (that may not be possible with today’s regulations), but pretty good and (hopefully) available would be welcome changes compared to yet another POS SUV.
In a series full of cool cars, the Citroen SM in the Columbo episode “Identity Crisis” is one of my favorites.
Sorry, still have Jaguar concept fatigue. After all the possibly cool cars they teased over the years, and never built, all concept cars are about as real as me buying an air-cooled 911 for $50.
it looks a tad goofy with those large of a wheels and that wheelbase. or maybe it’s just the style of the wheel. the exterior is a 9/10 the interior is a 6/10 too many screens and a screen on the steering wheel is just .. hilarious
Changing the rear tyre…..
1 2 3 not it!
It’s not the cure for concept car burnout, because we all know that they won’t make it
IMO, an outlandish, design study-style concept car with no chance of being produced IS the cure to concept car burnout, since 90% of current concepts are production-ready crossovers with bigger wheels and brakes. The point of a concept car should not be a slightly spiced up production car – it should be a chance to let car designers have fun.
This would be awesome if it did make it to production in some form! But it won’t…
Rich, Corinthian leather of course
No, but man does that give me the idea for a new 300 Cordoba.
Take the new Charger coupe, give it a more formal roof line, swap out the headlights for large round units. Make the interior design plush leather (source it from Corinth, KY if possible), have Pedro Pascal act as Ricardo Montalban for the commercials. The Bishop might need to get on this.
I thought Corinth was in Mississippi? I wholly support this depraved vison as I have a weakness for ’70s personal luxury barges.
Oh yeah on PP, the wood recorder “doo DOO doo DOO. doo DOO doo DOO.” as he walks up to his new Razor Crest Edition Cordoba.
WITH optional carbonite freezer.