As if the Citroën DS3 weren’t chic enough as it is, the automaker has brought in a series of designers to give it that extra touch of style. Kenzo, Orla Kiely and Yves Saint-Laurent have all brought their pens to the decidedly un-retro premium hatchback, and now the French automaker is following up with some new designer editions.

First up is the Grey Matter, a special edition limited to 750 examples, characterized by its matte gray body with contrasting chrome trim. Buyers can specify the roof and 17-inch alloys in either white or black to play off the gray body.

Citroën is also offering a new gold roof decal called Flavio, penned by the Italian winner of its public design contest. Which, as you can see from the images in our gallery, contrasts nicely with the new Hickory Brown paint that joins the palette of ten existing colors. Details in the press release after the jump.

In its quest to take on the lucrative premium compact segment, Citroën has been unrelenting with the release of the its higher-end DS line. The DS4 was just unveiled in Paris, and now reports indicate that the French automaker plans to take on the likes of the Audi S3 and Volkswagen Golf R with a new performance-oriented version of the high hatch.

The kicker is that, according to recurring reports, the Citroën DS4 Racing is tipped to go hybrid, following the likes of the Honda CR-Z and Lexus CT200h. A 95-horsepower electric motor would be mated to the car’s 200-horsepower turbo four, in either a Hybrid4-sytle all-wheel drive setup or as a front-driver using the system being developed with BMW. Sounds enticing, but hybrid or not, the DS4 Racing isn’t expected before 2013

The beauty of an automaker entering a completely new market like China is the ability to completely redefine what the brand stands for to local buyers. In the case of France’s Citroën, they’re going decidedly upmarket, but instead of taking baby steps like turning its C3 econo-hatch into the DS3 premium hatch, the French automaker can start completely from scratch.

According to reports from Europe and China, parent company PSA/Peugeot-Citroën is planning on jump-starting its Asian operations by building a production version of its Metropolis concept, the first design carried out at the company’s Shanghai-based design team. Unveiled there in May, the Metropolis stands for the Double Chevron’s vision of what the marque could be to upscale Chinese buyers.

In production form, the Metropolis is anticipated to carry the DS9 nameplate, topping the DS range with an executive limousine that looks like the size of China itself. While the concept featured a compact V6 mated to an electric motor and seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox, the production version could carry any powertrain, likely nestled into a modified platform borrowed from the outgoing Citroën C6 and Peugeot 407. The DS9 looks poised to be built at the joint-venture facility announced last July with Changan Automobile Group. Whether it will ever make it outside of China, of course, remains to be seen.

French couture, as is widely known, is at the very height of fashion. French cars, well…less so. But Citroënis hard at work to fix that and capitalize on potential synergies within its own homeland. Its new DS line of premium vehicles is doing much to bridge that gap, as are concepts like the Metropolis and theGQbyCitroën. Now the French automaker has teamed up with a sportswear powerhouse to develop a new show car set to debut on its home turf in Paris next week.

The product of collaboration with tennis-wear giant Lacoste, Citroën’s latest concept takes the alligator brand’s slogan “un peu d’air sur terre” (“a little air on the ground”) to heart with an open buggy-like design ready to, according to Citroën, transports its “passengers to a lighter, fresher world.” And what does that entail, exactly? No roof, no doors and a collapsible windshield, apparently, taking cues from classic Jeeps, but in a more, how you say, avant garde form.

Powering those jumbo golf-ball wheels is a compact three-cylinder gasoline engine that Citroen figures should be plenty to propel the compact vehicle along in joie de vivre bliss. Beyond that, we’ll let the French designers’ work speak for itself, so take a stroll through the Louvre-like gallery of high-resolution images below for a closer look, or follow the jump for the full press release.

Citroën rarely disappoints when it comes to concept cars. This year, for example, we’ve already gotten theSurvolt and DS High Rider. Its latest effort steps up the luxury in a big way. The Citroën Metropolis concept , set to debut in Shanghai later this month, is a beautiful and very French take on the Maybach formula (whether PSA actually greenlights a production venture into such rarefied air remains to be seen.)

Some of the Metropoplis concept’s lines are similar to those first seen on the GTbyCitroen supercar, but they’re more elegant than outrageous as presented on this opulent saloon. A 460-horsepower hybrid powertrain has our interest piqued as well, but for now we’ll have to keep ourselves content with the photo dump that just hit Citroën’s media site. All the latest images are laid out in the high-resolution gallery below, and we’ve begun counting down to this year’s Paris salon to see what Citroën has in store for us next.