Meet the new DS7 Crossback

Do you love Paris and its food, fashion and frivolity? If so, the new DS7 Crossback could be just the vehicle for you. 

After all, if it's good enough for President Macron — who was driven down the Champs-Elysees in the very first one — then why not?

I was in Paris this week to try it out. And, like the French president, it's a smooth operator. It's produced by DS Automobiles, the premium division of PSA, the Peugeot-Citroen car empire — which now owns Vauxhall — and is a brand in its own right.

The letters ‘DS’ – sounding in French like 'goddess’ – come from the revolutionary Citroen DS of 1955 whose letters subsequently highlighted top of the range models. Aimed as a Gallic riposte to the dominant German, Japanese and British upmarket luxury off-roaders, this new SUV, DS bosses say, is masculine and something like 'a French Sean Connery'.