Citroën DS Balloon Car Takes Flight at Retromobile

Citroën’s hugely innovative DS is turning 70 this year, and the DS brand claimed the model as its own at Retromobile. I’m not a fan of attempts at rewriting history, especially for marketing purposes, but I’ll cut Stellantis some slack because the display was awesome. In addition to showing a diverse selection of DS variants, the company recreated the famous balloon-wheeled DS that blurs the line between cars and art.

It goes without saying that big, orange spheres were never offered as an option by Citroën. Claude Puech, the brand’s advertising director, created what’s now known as the Balloon Car in 1959 to highlight the hydropneumatic suspension system. He took a DS 19 finished in Ecaille Blonde, removed the wheels, filled in the front wheel arches, and closed off the underbody. The end result almost looked like a spaceship.

Whether this was intentional or not remains a point of debate, but the advertising campaign allowed the DS to transcend its status as a mere mode of transportation and plant its stake in the realm of art. Puech’s Balloon Car notably became the first car to win an Industrial Art Award at the Triennale di Milano held in Italy. Its 15 minutes of fame didn’t end there: The car-sculpture hybrid was later displayed all over Europe.

The model displayed at Retromobile was reportedly sourced from the Citromuseum in Castellane, a small town in the lower part of the French Alps, and turned into a replica of the Balloon Car by a trade school. It’s hovering above the ground like a two-tone flying saucer, and I’d argue that it still looks futuristic in 2025.