Renault: too early to do a Citroen DS

• Renault to concentrate on main range of cars
• Won't be distracted by 'DS'-style range
• Renault has 'treasure chest'

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Renault says it's too early for it to attempt to launch an upmarket sub-brand just as rival Citroen has done with the DS.

Chief designer Laurens van der Acker, who has been in the job at Renault for a year, says Renault needs more time to develop the design of its main range of cars.

'I hope it works for Citroen because it puts exciting cars on the roads,' he said. 'But it is too early for us. I feel we need to do our homework.

'Citroen has built a family of cars and is now building on top of it. We need to build our family first.'

Van der Acker says Renault would also need to do its sums to see if making an upmarket version of a car would make more profit than making just an impressive single model.

'From a holistic point of view does the sum of the two – for example the C3 and the DS3 – more than making just one good car.'

However, van der Acker concedes that just as Citroen called on its heritage to make an updated DS range for the 21st century, Renault too has a history that it should call upon in the future.

'Renault has a treasure chest of icons,' he said. 'We need to make more of that.'