Pictures, News and reviews on the fantastic world of French Concept Cars from Renault, Peugeot and Citroen
Peugeot Concept Cars
Have you ever wondered what an Aston Martin Vantage might look like if it were to have been designed by Peugeot? The SR1 Concept Car is your answer. It takes the classic proportions of a car such as the Aston and blends them with subtle styling cues that apparently show a whole new design direction for the brand. If that means that Peugeot is ditching the over sized headlights and the huge gaping mouth front grille and making cars that look like this then we are all for it!
More than anything it displays the fact that Peugeot designers do understand proportional balance (makes you almost wonder if Peugeot have moved their styling back to Pininfarina who produced classics like the 406 Coupe) and along with the BB1 concept, the SR1 points to some more exiting times ahead from Peugeot. We don’t expect Peugeot to make this car, but if they did, well let’s just say there would likely be a queue round the block forming pretty quickly, and we would be at the front of it.
Peugeot is finally beginning to explore some truly interesting concepts with the BB1. Rather than taking the nose of an existing model and grafting it onto the front of a 60′s style Ferrari copy sports car that it has no intention of ever building, the BB1 represents real and significant research into what the future of urban mobility may look like.
The BB1 is a fully electric vehicle with the road footprint of something the size of a Smart car, yet it is a full 4 seater designed to take 4 full sized adults for urban commuting in the worlds larger cities. The electric motors are built into the wheels and designed in conjunction with Michelin, and the chassis itself was designed by Peugeot’s motorcycle department. Power comes from rechargeable lithium Ion batteries.
The Peugeot RC Hybrid 4 concept car is a nod towards the trend of hybrid engines, and that the brand is seriously researching them, although production probably wont take place in this form – the exterior styling previews more what to expect on the replacement to the 607 luxury barge.
The RC Hybrid 4 uses 2 separate power plants – strangely for a brand that has made its name with front engined front wheel drive cars, Peugeot chooses to mount the 1.6 litre petrol engine in the rear of the car powering the rear wheels, and an electric motor under the bonnet to power the front wheels, effectively giving 4 wheel drive, without the axles being linked with any form of drive shaft. How this rear mounted engine affects things like boot space Peugeot does not say, but that’s the beauty of a concept car – you don’t have to!
Meet France’s answer to the Audi TT… The Peugeot 308 RCZ Concept Car. The 308 RC Z is a 2+2 coupe that sits on a modified version of the standard 308′s platform in much the same way the TT uses the VW Golf’s chassis. Officially when shown this was a concept car but it looked very production ready with proper shut-lines, bumpers, engine range etc, and company insiders were stressing they were very hopeful of making the car.
Thankfully the car was given the green light and a production version unveiled in late 2009 virtually unchanged from the concept – Finally Peugeot has made one of its sporting concept cars a reality, and good looking it is too! We are expecting a range of engines, from the current 1.6 turbo petrol engine s the 2.0 litre diesel engines and a more powerful petrol engine said to be in the pipeline. Now let’s just hope it drives as well as it looks!
The Peugeot 908 RC concept car was produced to highlight the future design direction of the brand’s larger saloon cars such as the forthcoming 408 and 608. As diesel is becoming a more and more popular choice for fuelling European saloon cars, Peugeot decided to fit the car with a 5.5 litre HDI V12 turbo diesel engine, with the concept apparently capable of 300 km/h. This engine will power the racing version of the 908 that the brand enters into Le Mans in 2007.
Peugeot explained the purpose of the car in its press release in typical Gallic style: “The original idea was to create a limousine with an imposing style that offered its four occupants a new driving sensation. The final design, however, is an uncompromising car that combines dynamic performance, comfort, luxury and environmental protection. In short, it is an exclusive four-door vehicle that will capture the imagination of both occupants and onlookers.”
the 908 RC also features a huge panoramic roof with the windscreen extending in one complete glass section of over 3m2 which gives the driver a fantastic view and allows a lot of light into the interior.
The 20Cup was designed by Peugeot to promote the new turbocharged 1.6 Petrol engine that is to feature in the fastest versions of the recently introduced 207 production car. The engine was a joint development between the brand and BMW, who will also use the engine in the top spec Mini Cooper S.
The 20Cup was designed highlight the sporty nature of the Peugeot brand and draw references between the production car derived styling of the front end and the rest of the car which has racing pretensions, with a carbon fibre chassis based around the 2 seater cockpit and a single rear wheel held by a motorcycle style swinging arm. This design should mean that the front end grip of the tyres far exceeded the rear, allowing the car to develop oversteer which is considered more the preserve of rear engined cars.
To further strengthen the motorsport links, at the same time as unveiling the concept car, Peugeot also announced it was entering the LMES racing series.
The Peugeot 907 Concept was first shown on 2004 and highlights the past link where previous Peugeot models were in part designed by Pininfarina, whom also produce a large percentage of Ferrari’s work. The 907 draws some obvious comparisons between itself and the Ferrari 550 / 575 Maranello with the long bonnet rear cab styling, particularly in profile shot.
From the front it shares all of Peugeot’s recent over-sized headlights and grille taken from the Peugeot road car range. For us it’s a bit of a tenuous link from something like a 307 to what supposes to hold a large V12 engine in a carbon fibre body. It is a good looking car though. Peugeot describes it as follows: “The 907 is a new demonstration of the creation of emotion and passion, it takes over a new territory and it revisits the traditional codes of legendary cars.”
The Hoggar concept was first shown in 2003 and is named after a desert in Algeria – hinting at what the purpose of the model is. Resembling a cross between an oversized beach buggy and a 4×4, the Peugeot Hoggar is described by the manufacturer as an off road sports car, designed for extreme conditions, the sort of thing you may see competing on the Paris Dakar rally. The one thing it definitely does look is great fun!
The concept has 2 separate power trains – each a 2 litre HDI diesel engine, mounted in a transverse format, one driving each axle. The engines can apparently operate individually or together and produce a combined 360 horsepower and use a sequential gearbox each.
The concept features a carbon main shell with steel tubular sub-frames to mount the power train and suspension. The Hoggar was a wonderful flight of fancy from Peugeot, and one that we would love to drive, but again no chance of ever making production.
The RC Concept is the first of several “RC” badged concept cars that Peugeot has produced over the last 10 years. This particular one was shown as 2 separate models, one with a petrol engine, and one with a diesel, to help highlight the manufacturers strength with diesels, and the idea that a diesel performance car was possible.
Peugeot went into details about the construction of the car being Carbon Fibre pre impregnated straight onto Honeycomb panels, and featuring beetle wing doors, although at the same time the design brief suggested the RC was an “affordable” sports car. Quite how the use of carbon fibre use translates into affordable is not clear, but the advantage of concept cars is that nothing really needs justifying!
The styling helped preview the 407 coupe, particularly the oversized headlights and rear end, other than that Peugeot suggested there were some aspects influenced by Ferraris of the 60′s. The design was well received but unfortunately like nearly every French concept car that is a sports car, never destined for production.
The Peugeot 607 Feline concept car was first shown in the year 2000 surprisingly shown after the launch of the 607 luxury saloon, and according to the official Peugeot manufacturer website “The original brief was to conceive a luxurious, racy roadster with some design elements borrowed from the 607 sedan, such as the front end and the rear light cluster.”
The 607 Feline was one of the first of a series of concept cars that took the nose of Peugeot road cars and grafted them onto exciting two-seater racing cars. This time the car had a very traditional long bonnet as of historic racing cars, and featured a front engined rear wheel drive chassis.
The 607 Feline was never meant to make production unfortunately, as we feel it would have made much more of an impact than the dull 607 production car that was largely unimpressive and generally ignored by buyers who look for a luxury badge (particularly a German one) on the front of their executive cars.
