In its 200-year history, the Peugeot brand – and later the familiar Lion emblem – has appeared on everything from hand-saws, tools and steel crinoline stays, to coffee grinders, bicycles, motorcycles, scooters and light commercial vehicles. Oh, and cars.

It’s in the latter category that we welcome the new Peugeot SR1 concept. As well as celebrating Peugeot’s 200th year, the concept car is the first to carry a new, simpler and more ‘fluid’ version of the famous Lion badge. More importantly, the SR1 – set for unveiling to the general public at the forthcoming Geneva motor show in March – lays the foundation stone for Peugeot’s future vehicle styling.

The SR1’s technical underpinnings, too, are futuristic, incorporating Peugeot’s ‘HYbrid4’ technology, due to become available on mainstream production cars from 2011. On the SR1, a front-mounted 1.6-litre THP petrol engine with a power output of 218bhp is combined with a rear electric motor developing 95bhp. In electric-only mode, the car becomes a ‘ZEV’ (Zero Emission Vehicle). When both petrol and electric powertrains operate together, the SR1 claims a maximum power output of 313bhp – and four-wheel drive.

Helping the car to be even more efficient is its lightweight structure, comprising a one-piece body with a tubular chassis onto which are mounted the mechanical components and suspension.

While the suspension consists of double wishbones with drop links at the front and rear, the SR1 offers innovative, four-wheel steering ‘for even greater driving precision’. It works by motorised links on the rear suspension wishbones, which control the turning angle of the rear wheels as a function of vehicle speed, giving – says Peugeot – ‘superb agility under all circumstances’. Quite a boldly worded claim…

Text: Charis Whitcombe
Photos: Peugeot