Rock star: this DS4 Crossback Concept is made from stone

The automotive industry is, and always has been, at the very forefront of materials engineering. But while carbon-fibre tubs, magnesium wheels and fibreglass coil springs all push the boundaries of what’s possible, they pale in comparison next to DS’s latest material breakthrough.

Stone.

Yes, taking inspiration from Fred Flintstone’s family runabout might seem like a daft idea, but DS – the brand formerly known as Citroen’s Posh Stuff, but now a marque in its own right – insists that it’s deadly serious and intends to put the idea into small-series production within the next 18 months. Leave your ‘rock and roll’ puns at the door, please.

Showcased on the DS4 Crossback concept at the Frankfurt motor show (although oddly enough, there’s already a production version of the Crossback), the new technology doesn’t involve slabs of rock grafted to the chassis, or fashioned into circles to replace the wheels, but rather 1mm thick slices of the stuff that’s been cut and shaped to trim the alloys, wing mirrors and roof bars.

In the future there’s no reason it couldn’t be applied to the dash and instrument panels, says DS.

It’s all part of the “ultra-personalisation” approach DS customers are demanding, apparently. But what do you reckon? Like the idea of your next car being upholstered in granite? Feldspar? Gneiss, maybe?