DS E-Tense Performance Is a Dressed Up Formula E Race Car

Striking, isn’t it? Meet the DS E-Tense Performance, a concept which clothes the electric powertrain from a Formula E race car in a svelte coupe body topped off with a vivid green paint job. The E-Tense Performance serves as a sporty vision of an electric future for DS, the luxury arm of Citroen spun off in 2015. Unlike most concept cars, it will actually be put to the test around the track.

The Performance is an evolution of the E-Tense concept revealed at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. The muscular, low-slung body remains mostly the same, but the headlights are replaced by cameras and pointy T-shaped LED running lights. The gaping chrome grille of the original is swapped out for a black rectangular element featuring a 3D-effect DS logo, while vents and intakes are chiseled into the bodywork and a beefy diffuser dominates the rear end. The styling is made even more eye-catching by the beetle-influenced color, which changes shades depending on the angle at which you view it.

Underneath the spectacular design is a carbon monocoque and two electric motors from the DS Techeetah race car which competes in Formula E. With a motor on each axle, the E-Tense Performance puts down 805 horsepower, and DS claims it sprints to 62 mph in around 2.0 seconds. DS didn’t reveal the battery’s size, but says it is “housed in a carbon-aluminum composite envelope” and is positioned in a central-rear location for ideal weight distribution.

While the E-Tense Performance isn’t bound for production, the car will be tested by DS Techeetah’s two Formula-E-championship-winning drivers, Jean-Éric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa, in the coming months. The data collected from these tests will influence future DS vehicles, all of which will be electric starting in 2024. None of these vehicles is expected to ever reach our shores, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still drool over the E-Tense Performance and wonder, “What if?”

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