Design “demarqueation”

PSA's new design center will improve collaboration between teams while preserving individual brand identity, according to the company.

Security from probing, long-lens cameras is always a major element of any car company's design center, because commercial secrecy is a must. PSA Peugeot Citroën's new facility at Vélizy near Versailles, Paris, has external “presentation terraces,” or viewing areas, at the sixth level above the ground to reduce the risk of “spy shots.” But it has an unusual added element of security; it is within the civil aircraft “no-fly zone” of a French military airbase-which should guarantee no unauthorized aerial pictures of future models.

Called the Automotive Design Network (ADN, which in French is, appropriately, DNA), the new design center, which shares the company's Technical Center site, is for both Peugeot and Citroën design teams, although they work separately. Even the rooftop viewing areas are divided by a wall, and there is only limited access between the Peugeot and Citroën parts of the building. Ensuring that each marque retains its individual identity is regarded by PSA as vital for its success, although platform sharing is an established philosophy.