Stellantis-owned luxury brand DS Automobiles appropriated the Citroën SM to celebrate its 10th birthday earlier in 2024. While the concept it unveiled was initially presented as a design study, three of the group’s top executives revealed that they’re working on turning it into a limited-edition model with Maserati’s help.
DS design boss Thierry Metroz told Top Gear that his team is looking for a way to re-work the concept into a low-volume production car, and the project reportedly has the proverbial nod of approval from Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares and DS boss Olivier François. Of course, it takes more than an executive’s green light to turn a concept into a running and driving car that folks can buy; the model needs to make money.
That’s precisely where Maserati comes in. The original SM was developed shortly after Citroën purchased Maserati in 1968 and consequently used an Italian V6 engine. The two companies parted ways in 1975 but unexpectedly ended up under the same corporate umbrella when PSA Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) merged to form Stellantis in 2021. The idea, according to Metroz, is to build the modern-day SM on the same basic underpinnings as the second-generation GranTurismo. This would allow stylists to retain the concept’s basic proportions while largely keeping development costs in check.
Whether you love it or hate it, at least the theoretical 21st-century SM will receive a proper engine. DS hopes to gain access to the Maserati parts bin to power the new SM with the fantastic twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre Nettuno V6 that is found in the MC20 and GranTurismo, among other cars. Maserati hasn’t been thrilled about the idea of sharing the six-cylinder it designed in-house with its sister companies, however.
Electric power has already been ruled out.
“When you’re buying a million-euro car, you don’t want an EV,” Metroz told Top Gear.
Using the GranTurismo’s bones would make the rebooted SM all-wheel drive (the original was front-wheel drive) and, hopefully, genuinely engaging behind the wheel. The odds of seeing the hydropneumatic suspension make a comeback are low, but we won’t complain. At least there’s a V6 in the engine bay.
Metroz stopped short of revealing when the project’s fate will be decided, let alone when the first born-again SM will see the light that awaits at the end of a production line. It sounds like production is one of the many details still up in the air. DS will outsource production to a coachbuilder, the report notes, and the coupe will be built mostly by hand in “tiny numbers.” As for the price, we’re inclined to take Metroz at his word on the million-euro bit.
