French luxury car maker DS Automobiles has announced a new limited edition of its DS 3 Crossback compact SUV. Dubbed the Louvre, the £34,420 new model is designed to pay homage to the famous museum, of which the Parisian brand is a patron.
The Louvre model is set apart by its special badging on the bonnet, tailgate and doors, while the black front grille trim sits below a bonnet with subtle pyramid symbols beneath the lacquer on its central rib. That symbol reappears on the 18-inch Luxor alloy wheels, while the two-tone door mirror housings are laser-etched with a pyramid on the black casing, while the lower half is body coloured.
There is also gloss black trim on the tailgate, while the car is available in a choice of four different colours. Perla Nera Black, Artense Grey and Platinum Grey are available, along with Pearl Crystal. All four come with a Perla Nera Black roof.
Inside, the Louvre comes with the DS Opera interior, named after the area of Paris. That means you get Art Basalt Black Nappa leather ‘watchstrap’ upholstery, with matching upholstery on the dashboard and door panels. The steering wheel is also hand-covered in leather with pearl stitching and ‘Clous de Paris’ embossed inserts.
The dashboard, meanwhile, comes with an embossed pyramid symbol and a Louvre badge. And that pyramid symbol reappears on the glossy black gear lever.
The Louvre also comes with a pre-loaded selection of 182 artworks from the museum. Displayed on the 10.3-inch touchscreen, each work is accompanied by a podcast that “reveals their secrets”. One can be viewed every week, or found through an on-board search engine.
Works featured in the car include Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, the Wedding at Cana by Veronese and the Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I by Jacques-Louis David. The Egyptian statue of the Seated Scribe is also loaded on the system.
More on the DS 3 Crossback:
Customers get a choice of three different powertrains, with two PureTech petrol options joined by the all-electric E-Tense variant. Kicking things off is the 1.2-litre PureTech 130, with 129 bhp and an eight-speed automatic gearbox. Above that is the 153 bhp PureTech 155, which also gets an eight-speed automatic gearbox and starts at £35,920.
Finally, the 134 bhp all-electric E-Tense tops the line-up, coming in at £40,800. That model comes with a 50 kWh battery that gives the DS 3 Crossback a range of around 200 miles between charges.
Gallery: DS 3 Crossback Louvre