DS Automobiles has revealed a wild-looking concept car with a high-performance powertrain, aiming to prove cars can still look interesting while featuring modern aerodynamic design.

The bodywork of the DS Aero Sport Lounge is designed to optimise air flow, with the steeply raked roof line helping to reduce drag, an important feature in optimising an electric vehicle’s range. Air entering the front grille, meanwhile, is directed to the side aero details by passing through the 23-inch alloy wheels.

The concept features a 671bhp electric motor that’s linked to a 110kWh battery, which provides a range in excess of 400 miles (644 kilometres). DS says this technology has come from its Formula E race cars and contributes to a 0-60mph (0-97km/hr) time of 2.6 seconds.

In a bold move, the interior doesn’t feature extensive screens like most concepts, instead utilising its surfaces to project information onto, including navigation and entertainment features.

Occupants can interact with the car using hand gestures or through talking to the vehicle’s on-board artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, straw has been used for some of the upholstery because it’s a plentiful material.

Thierry Metroz, DS Automobiles design director, said: “DS Aero Sport Lounge is a manifesto intended to illustrate the buzzword ‘sustainable’. It is a clear willingness to offer luxury while still thinking about our environmental footprint: the quality of sustainability.

“It illustrates the opening of a new era for the car. An amazing pathway is opening for us to transform new limitations into opportunities to make cars that are more and more charismatic.

“For this concept car, which is a prelude to our next creations, we have opted for solutions that are avant-garde and high technology in which the purely technical element is concealed for the benefit of the beauty. In the cockpit, we have chosen to work with unexpected materials, hand-crafted with simple, pure lines, expressing a new kind of tranquillity.”

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