New Citroen DS5 Cinemagraphs: Citroen UK gets arty

New Citroen DS5 Cinemagraph

With the Citroen DS5 heading for Citroen showrooms in 2012, Citroen UK has got all arty with ‘Cinemagraph’ images of the DS5.

The new Citroen DS5 is rapidly heading towards a showroom near you after its production-ready debut at Frankfurt in December (and its first UK viewing at the Top Gear Live shows this month).

So Citroen UK has decided they need to push the marketing on a bit in the run-up to the DS5 actually arriving in the UK and have had a set of ‘Cinemagraphs’ created of the new DS5.

What’s a Cinemagraph, you may well ask? Actually, it’s just a slick and posh version of the animated banners you used to see everywhere at the top of websites, before advertisers worked out they were more likely to make people leave a site than click on an advert.

To be fair to Citroen, their version of the animated gif is actually subtle and appealing, rather than garish and gaudy. At first you don’t see the subtle movements, but keep looking and you’ll see something on the move; droplets of water, indicators, smoke.

We’re not sure yet whether Citroen can recreate the success of the DS3 in the DS5. It’s one thing having a quirky, sexy little hatch like the DS3, but trying to break in to the company car executive class is another thing altogether.

Company car buyers are much more conservative, and the unusual styling – inside and out – may be more a turn off than a turn on.

There’s only the 1.6 litre MINI lump and the Hybrid4 option on offer at launch, which means you’ll either have to opt for an engine that’s better suited to a small hatch than a mid-size exec, or pay a big premium for the Hybrid4.

But at least the running costs of the Hybrid4 will be low for company cars, even if the list price is steep.

We’ll reserve judgement until we get to play properly.