With the Covid-19 pandemic still causing trouble around the world, the world-famous Louvre Museum in Paris will most likely remain closed to the public for the foreseeable future. For those dreaming of travelling to Paris just to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, French carmaker DS is offering the next best thing by bringing the museum to you – in the form of the limited-edition DS 7 Crossback Louvre edition.
The DS 7 Crossback Louvre is the result of a collaboration between DS Automobiles and Le Louvre Museum. Through a feature called ‘A Day at the Louvre’, buyers of the limited-edition DS 7 Crossback will have access to a 182-item curated list of the most beautiful and important works in the Louvre Museum, displayed directly on the car’s 12-inch high-definition infotainment display.
These works include the portrait of Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, The Wedding at Cana by Véronèse, and The Winged Victory of Samothrace. Each piece will also be accompanied by a four-minute podcast that reveals its history and secrets.
In addition, each unit of the DS 7 Crossback Louvre will also come with a “Friends of the Louvre” card, which guarantees unlimited admission for one year to the Louvre Museum’s permanent collections and temporary exhibitions, alongside the musée national Eugène-Delacroix – that is when they are finally reopened to the public, of course.
Aside from the art gallery, the DS 7 Crossback Louvre – only available in Ink Blue, Perla Nera Black, and Platinum Grey – also features several exclusive “Louvre” touches on its exterior, such as the exclusive Louvre badging on the bonnet, front wings, and tailgate that reflects the iconic shape of the Louvre Pyramid.
The same iconic shape is repeated in the wing mirror housings, where the signature Pyramid pattern has been created by DS Automobiles artisans using cutting edge laser etching techniques.
Other details include the use of gloss black trims on the wings that around the front grille, window surrounds, roof bars, and the frames for the LED tail lights. The DS 7 Crossback Louvre also gets a unique Alexandria design on its 20-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels.
Moving inside, the pyramid pattern is repeated on the stainless steel air vent controllers, dashboard, and also embossed in the Nappa leather covering of the centre console storage compartment.
The DS 7 Crossback Louvre is based on the Ultra Prestige variant, with the PureTech 225 petrol engine as the sole offering. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder turbocharged mill makes 225 hp and 300 Nm of torque, sent to the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. 0-100 km/h is rated at 8.3 seconds, onward to a top speed of 227 km/h.
Standard equipment on the Ultra Prestige variant include the DS Active Scan suspension, which uses a camera to analyse the road ahead, making minute adjustments to the suspensions for a smoother ride.
Also standard is the DS Connected Pilot level two autonomous driving system, with features including adaptive cruise control with stop and go functionality, lane centring assist, active blind spot detection, speed limit recognition warning, extended traffic sign recognition, as well as driver attention warning.
The DS 7 Crossback Louvre is available now for the lucky people over at the UK, with on-the-road prices starting from GBP46,530 (~RM257k).
