It's rare for manufacturer's to undersell the visual impact of a car. Too often tiny details are massively over exaggerated, usually to create some sense of sportiness or excitement. So Peugeot's modesty in discussing the
2008 DKR
's appearance is interesting. Apparently it still 'shares an unmistakable family resemblance with Peugeot's road-going crossover, albeit with more muscular forms and more imposing overall proportions'. More muscular than a 2008? Yes, like a WWE wrestler is more muscular than a marathon runner. Still share a human resemblance, right?
Mmm yeah, looks just like a 2008
The DKR just looks absurd, with the merest styling concessions to the 2008 production car. Where to start? The front is radically different with barely any overhang to allow the best approach angles. The wheels are 37 inches in diameter. It's a three-door shell, unlike any roadgoing 2008. Alright, the rear lights are fairly familiar but now sit between two sizeable exhausts and a spoiler the size of a surfboard. It's a bloody terrifying thing.
If the look of it wasn't scary enough, Peugeot's decision to go 2WD (presumably to the rear) with the 2008 DKR should do the trick. Best leave the explanation to them: "We carried out an in-depth analysis of what already existed in the world of cross-country rallying and weighed up the benefits of the different solutions. In the end, we opted for an approach that was quite different to that of the competition. Given the off-road capability of two-wheel drive transmission and its ability to run on sand, that's the choice we ultimately went for. It enabled us to fit bigger wheels and also to benefit from more suspension travel." That's the view of Project Leader at Peugeot Sport, Jean-Christophe Pailler.
Other drivetrain details are absent at present but that styling surely necessitates something appropriately powerful. And very loud.
Carlos Sainz is confident that two-wheel drive isn't an issue having contested in the last two Dakars without four-wheel drive. "I am convinced it is a solution that can win the event". We'll be following this Peugeot Sport project with interest; can it do the same at the Dakar as at Pikes Peak?