DS 4 will be produced in Rüsselsheim, Germany

Of everything revealed during the presentation of the new DS 4, one detail stood out more than expected: its production location.

Rather than being built in Sochaux, France - where other models using the EMP2 platform, including the Peugeot 3008, are made - DS Automobiles executives announced that the new DS 4 would be manufactured in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Rüsselsheim? Is that not where Opel has its headquarters? It is indeed. The French brand's new premium offering will be built in Germany, near Frankfurt, at the same factory that currently produces the Opel Insignia and previously made the Opel Zafira, before it became a van-derived model.

French luxury, made in Germany

When development began on project D41, which would ultimately become the DS 4, the plan was already in place. The new model was to be manufactured in France, at Sochaux, alongside other Groupe PSA cars based on the EMP2 platform - an entirely logical arrangement.

However, in the middle of last year, Carlos Tavares, then CEO of Groupe PSA and now CEO of Stellantis, decided to move production to Rüsselsheim in Germany, the city where Opel was founded and remains headquartered.

It was a wholly logical, pragmatic decision, as Tavares's decisions tend to be. Above all, it was prompted by the fact that the replacement for the Opel Astra, also due to launch in 2021 and based on the same underpinnings as the DS 4, would likewise be built in Rüsselsheim.

DS 4 and Opel Astra production at Rüsselsheim

The current Opel Astra and Vauxhall Astra, which still use General Motors hardware, are manufactured in Ellesmere Port in the United Kingdom and Gliwice in Poland. It is not yet known what the future holds for either production site, particularly Ellesmere Port, because of the additional costs brought by Brexit.

What is known is that production of the new Opel Astra will move to Rüsselsheim, where the model was also built in the generation before the current one, alongside the French DS 4. Carlos Tavares can therefore make full use of the plant's capacity.

Tavares also secures the industrial peace promised to IG Metall in 2018. Following Groupe PSA's acquisition of Opel from GM, the powerful German trade union sought assurances over investment and job retention at several Opel factories, including Rüsselsheim.

Sochaux prepares for the eVMP platform

Sochaux in France, despite having been promised DS 4 production, has not lost out. It will be responsible for building the first models based on the new eVMP platform from 2023. As well as accommodating hybrid powertrains, the new platform will also support fully electric powertrains, unlike EMP2, which only allows plug-in hybrids.

The first model on the eVMP platform - which all indications suggest will succeed EMP2 - should be the next-generation Peugeot 3008. Rumours suggest, however, that shortly before the new 3008, a new DS 5 could be the first to emerge from it. It will have little or nothing in common with the model whose production ended in 2019, and is expected to become the production version of the DS Aero Sport Lounge.