Special Coverage
Geneva
Auto Show
PARIS – Automobiles Peugeot will present a concept car at the Geneva auto show next month that foreshadows its upcoming 508 range topper, with a name that announces the brand’s international intentions.
The “Five by Peugeot” is the moniker for the big sedan meant to express success and luxury, powered by PSA Peugeot Citroen’s Hybrid4 powertrain with electric motor driving the rear axles and a diesel engine on the front wheels.
An English language name is a deliberate choice. “Peugeot is an international marque,” spokesman Martin Alloiteau says. “We want to be understood by the press around the world.”
The brand’s new slogan, “Motion and Emotion,” also is in English, even in France.
The SR1 hybrid concept, first unveiled early in January, makes another international statement, pairing the electric motor with a gasoline engine, thus announcing a future powertrain that would sell in non-diesel markets such as China and Russia.
The Five by Peugeot is a 4-door sedan big brother to the SR1 hybrid concept, which is a 2-door grand tourer coupe. The sedan measures 191 ins. (485 cm) with a 111-in. (280-cm) wheelbase, while the coupe measures 175 ins. (445 cm) on a 102-in. (259-cm) wheelbase.
Both cars express a fluid style that Peugeot says indicates the brand’s new design direction.
Peugeot is expected to present a 508 one day as a replacement for both the 407 and 607. The SR1 likely is the concept stand-in for Peugeot’s next-generation luxury coupe, albeit smaller than the current 407 coupe, which measures 189.6 ins. (481.6 cm) long on a 107-in. (272-cm) wheelbase.
The Five by Peugeot’s powertrain totals 200 hp, with a 163-hp 2.0L diesel engine and 37-hp electric motor, producing just 99 g/km of carbon-dioxide emissions.
The SR1 is powered by a combined 313 hp, with a 218 hp 1.6L gasoline engine and 95 hp from the motor. Acceleration of 0-62 mph (100 km/h) is said to take 4.7 seconds, producing 119 g/km of CO2. The car has enough electricity on board to travel 8 miles (13 km) at a steady, slow pace.
Peugeot also will show a 3-wheeled gasoline-hybrid scooter concept, the HYbrid3 Evolution, at the Geneva show.
Three-wheel scooters have become fashionable in Europe, in part because they hold themselves straight up at a stop. PSA, which has a motorcycle/scooter branch, is introducing such models with standard gasoline engines.
