Thursday 14th April 2011

Peugeot Reveals 300bhp Crossover Concept

Shanghai show car is 100 per cent Chinese designed

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Peugeot is set to unveil this, the SXC concept car, at the Shanghai motor show next week.

The new SUV-alike concept, which has been designed entirely in China at Peugeot Style Studios of the China Tech Centre in Shanghai, is a 313bhp petrol-electric hybrid.

It's been designed specifically with the interests of the Chinese market in mind. So if you don't get how its style expresses "strength and power, without being pretentious," (to quote the press release) or how its lines "subtly emphasise the athletic, even muscular, character of the vehicle", we'd understand. Unless you live in Shanghai, of course...

But the 'crossover' vehicle is increasingly popular in China, so Peugeot's choice of concept is perhaps understandable.

Beneath the bodywork lies a 1.6-litre turbocharged 218bhp motor driving the front wheels, with a 95bhp electric motor working the rears. Peugeot hasn't revealed any performance figures for the SXC, but it does claim a combined fuel economy figure of 48.7mpg and CO2 emissions of 143g/km.

[MrTappets]

218bhp aint bad from a 1.6. And maybe it's just the angle of the images but I'm struggling to see much of the current Peugeot design language in there, which is probably a good thing.

[Schmeeky]

An Allegro-style quartic steering wheel? It'll never catch on!

[Riggers]

MrTappets said:

218bhp aint bad from a 1.6. And maybe it's just the angle of the images but I'm struggling to see much of the current Peugeot design language in there, which is probably a good thing.

Think there's a bit of the latest stuff in the nose and tail (think SR1 concept, and 508), but you're right - it's certainly not the usual Pug offering

[TaRD]

Actually not too bad looking, are we sure it's a Peugeot?

[Chapppers]

Quick! quick! Everyone build an Evoque competitor!

[Nest]

Like it would ever look like that if it got as far as production. More like a mis-proportioned thing with wheels that don't fill the arches. I just can't take concepts like this seriously...

[Riggers]

Chapppers said:

Quick! quick! Everyone build an Evoque competitor!

[Muzzlepop]

The name... is it my complete immaturity, or does that not look like "sexy" in chavspeak?

[goron59]

Chapppers said:

Quick! quick! Everyone build an Evoque competitor!

Well, crossover SUVs have been around for a while now, although not so much in Europe.
I like them. I just wish English carparks and garages were magically upgraded to fit.

[durbster]

Isn't it odd how the public largely hated Chris Bangle's design style when he was at BMW, and yet most manufacturers are now copying it. That "skin tightly stretched over a skeleton" effect on the sides is very Banglish, and now very common.

[booner]

Gotta love concept interiors. I sweat the guy who designed i-robot designs every concept interior. He must cry himself to sleep with the lack of uptake come production though.

[P9UNK]

Schmeeky said:

An Allegro-style quartic steering wheel? It'll never catch on!

squared off wheels are now common of course, even if only at the bottom, perhaps the next evaluation of the Allegro will mention that....wont be holding my breath on that one.

[Agoogy]

durbster said:

Isn't it odd how the public largely hated Chris Bangle's design style when he was at BMW, and yet most manufacturers are now copying it. That "skin tightly stretched over a skeleton" effect on the sides is very Banglish, and now very common.

When its done with restraint and done properly and not with a ham fist, its easier to like...

[forzaminardi]

Has any car labelled a "Crossover Concept" ever been any good?

[radio man]

it looks good, performance sounds ok, but I bet it would fall aprt if it hit anything biger than a pothole, i certainly would not want to have an accident in a chinese designed and built vehicle

[durbster]

radio man said:

it looks good, performance sounds ok, but I bet it would fall aprt if it hit anything biger than a pothole, i certainly would not want to have an accident in a chinese designed and built vehicle

You may be eating these words sooner than you think. I'm sure people said the same about Japanese cars not so long ago.

[soad]

Muzzlepop said:

The name... is it my complete immaturity, or does that not look like "sexy" in chavspeak?

[Riggers]

durbster said:

radio man said:

it looks good, performance sounds ok, but I bet it would fall aprt if it hit anything biger than a pothole, i certainly would not want to have an accident in a chinese designed and built vehicle

You may be eating these words sooner than you think. I'm sure people said the same about Japanese cars not so long ago.

Plus don't forget that this will have had to meet all the same design and engineering parameters of any Peugeot.

[farrendahl]

durbster said:

radio man said:

it looks good, performance sounds ok, but I bet it would fall aprt if it hit anything biger than a pothole, i certainly would not want to have an accident in a chinese designed and built vehicle

You may be eating these words sooner than you think. I'm sure people said the same about Japanese cars not so long ago.

And Korean, after all Kia's and Hyundai's would never sell would they?

[ptopman]

durbster said:

Isn't it odd how the public largely hated Chris Bangle's design style when he was at BMW, and yet most manufacturers are now copying it. That "skin tightly stretched over a skeleton" effect on the sides is very Banglish, and now very common.

I think that style's first outing with the previous-gen 7-series might have poisoned the well, so to speak. It was obviously different, but also unresolved in certain places, especially with a seemingly disjointed trunk and a weird expression up front. Add all the journalists' grievances with iDrive and you have people making up their mind that the design was a horrible mess.

Strange enough, almost all journals praised the 3-series for having toned down the design, but I think it's far more horrible than the old 7 was, for being a half-assed job.