Sean Bull’s Luxe Autre concept is a proposal for a future DS brand halo car. Utilizing the brand’s ‘Spirit of Avant-Garde’ mantra, the car features an expressively Parisian design inspired by French luxury products and aims to take on established super luxury car manufacturers by offering elite customers an entirely unique product.
One of the main influences for the project came from the “form and beauty of the female body with a key focus on feminine muscularity”, says Bull. The inspiration is visible in the vehicle’s bodywork, which mimics the forms of hipbones and cheekbones. Renaissance era Paris also played a role in the concept’s ideation, with influences coming from architecture, lifestyle and fashion of the time; the latter aesthetically depicted in the distinctive ‘corset cables’ adorning the bodywork.
The car incorporates a floating pod section that is suspended by a maglev-inspired system that offers occupants a feeling akin to levitation. The exterior’s ‘corset-cables’ actively tighten to keep the pod stable around corners and over any terrain, acting as a gyroscope to keep the ride smooth and the cabin level at all times, a sensory experience derived from the smooth ride of the original DS model’s hydropneumatic suspension.
Bull says he created the autonomous concept as a competitor to vehicles from Rolls-Royce and Bentley, proposing tie ins with luxury fashion brands Hermes and St. Louis to offer a unique French vehicle in the vein of the French luxury cruise-ship the SS Normandie from the 1920s.
The client base of the Luxe Autre is a key USP — only selected ‘icons’ will be invited to purchase the vehicle in order to further promote the brand in the Chinese market. The car itself, which will be customized by DS brand craftsmen, will be displayed in DS World showrooms in Paris and Shanghai and act as a mobile ‘work of art’ for prospective DS brand customers to see.
