"A striking offer": is DS planning a funky new small car to get it out of trouble?

DS boss Xavier Peugeot arrived at the brand a year ago when it was in trouble, sales struggling. To coincide with the first showing of the DS No7 crossover, he's been telling us his plan to get things back on track. He drops heavy hints that includes a car that recalls the hugely successful three-door DS3 hatch from the early 2010s (pictured above).

Top Gear begins the conversation unconvinced. I mention to him I first drove a RHD DS No8 in Britain almost six months ago, and I haven't seen one since. He counters that there has been a shortage of the long-range batteries, and the battery plant is getting up to speed now.

Peugeot (yes, he is part of the family) also predicts the DS No7 will be a strong seller. The departing DS7 was half the brand's sales.

So what's next? What about the lovely SM concept? He loves it and they looked at it, but he says, "it would be a mistake to do a car above the DS No8 on price".

OK what about the other end of DS's price spectrum? The DS3 Crossback is seven years old. Normally you'd expect a replacement about a year from now. But he steers the conversation away from another small crossover. Understandable given his fellow brands have a whole flotilla – 2008, Mokka, 600, Junior. Plus the cheaper Citroen C3 Aircross and Vauxhall Frontera, which use a budget platform.

"If you look at [retro] icons, the biggest successes have been starting with small cars. The Renault 5. The Mini. The DS3 was iconic and those thoughts are in our mind.

"When I joined DS everyone talked about the original DS3. We're still talking about something in line with that. It would be a striking offer."

Its technology could be modern. The Stellantis Group is working on an all-new platform, called STLA small, that can use EV or hybrid drive. A small DS would be one of the first adopters, after the next-gen Peugeot 208.

Even so, there's a mountain to climb for DS. And there's no doubt the parent company Stellantis has blown hot and cold with the brand. At one point then-CEO Carlos Tavares threatened that it'd be shut down if it didn't do better.

Peugeot recognises the dearth of investment affected sales. "We didn't launch a car for four years. Now we have three in a year." He means the DS No8, the DS No7 and the facelifted DS4, now called DS No4.

Top Gear suspects the prices for the DS No8, and the No7 when announced, should fall in Britain. The plant making the battery for the long-range versions of these two is in France and the car is made in Italy, and we can take it the car will likely get the full £3,750 grant.

DS by the way has the rights to the DS No3 name. In fact everything from No1 upwards, except No5 because Chanel long ago bagged that one for its perfume.