DS E-Tense Performance is a stunning Formula E racing car for the road

DS Automobiles is the luxury sub-brand of French automaker Citroen, and the brand has since announced that it will only be making all-electric and hybrid vehicles by 2025. Currently, the DS 3 Crossback E-Tense is the only EV in its stable, but it seems DS has plans to conquer the hyper-EV race with its newest one-off concept: The E-Tense Performance.

DS Automobiles

And yeah, we’re talking about an electric hyper sports car with the powertrain of a Formula E racing car. The E-Tense bears no resemblance to the Citroen Devine DS concept of 2014, but it inherited similar design cues to the E-Tense concept unveiled at the Geneva Auto Show in 2016.

DS Automobiles

“Our objective is to apply the experience acquired in formula E and the expertise that we’ve taken from our international titles to a project which predicts the high-performance electric car of tomorrow,” said Thomas Chevaucher, DS Performance Director.

DS Automobiles

Nestling underneath that curvy sheet metal is a carbon-aluminum monocoque frame and an all-electric drivetrain taken from the brand’s Formula E single-seat race car. We’re talking about a 250 kW electric motor in the front and a 350 kW unit at the back, collectively pumping out 600 kW or 804 horsepower. When we say this is a race car for the road, we mean it.

DS Automobiles

Those high-strung motors draw juice from an innovative new battery pack with an “innovative chemistry” and an “immersive cooling system” courtesy of a “bespoke Quartz EV Fluid solution.” DS Automobiles claims the battery, developed in cooperation with TotalEnergies and Saft, allows acceleration and regeneration up to 600 kW, allowing the car to accelerate like mad and recuperate power more efficiently.

With the battery mounted in a central-rear position to improve weight distribution, the E-Tense Performance can accelerate like its pants are on fire. DS claims zero to 60 mph in two seconds, which is frighteningly quick by modern standards.

It looks the part, too, with its eye-catching silhouette and wafer-thin, 3D-effect daytime running lights comprised of no less than 800 LEDs. You could mistake it for an Audi R8 with a shorter tail, but it also has elements of the Bugatti Chiron from some angles. Oh, and the body panels are wearing “beetle-effect interference color paint” that changes its hue depending on where you look. Nice.

DS Automobiles

DS Automobiles had no interior images, but it did say the concept has bucket seats, a Formula E steering wheel, black leather trim, and a Focal Utopia audio system with a pair of Scala Utopia Evo speakers. The E-Tense Performance is merely a concept at this point, but the prototype will commence initial test runs this February 2022.