Peugeot has chosen to reveal a concept car at CES in Las Vegas, hinting at what its next-generation electric sedan and SUV could look like from 2025. The Inception takes the form of a futuristic four-seater sitting on the new Stellantis STLA large EV platform. Visually, there are obvious ties to the 2018 e-Legend concept, but this time around the overtly retro elements of Peugeot past have mostly been stripped away to create something more forward-looking.
Not that it’s completely devoid of classic and current Peugeot design cues. The hood lines above and behind the headlights are reminiscent of the brand’s cars from the 1970s and early ’80s, but this time the lights are LED lights, and the grille connecting them is a massive glass panel. The wheels are similar to those fitted to the new 408 sedan, but now feature a horizontally illuminated lion emblem, while the rear fascia – also digital, like the one at the front – features the same cat-claw light pattern Peugeot elements familiar to the current generation.
But the most striking exterior element is the massive windshield, which extends from the roof panel down to the front of the car, right through the space where a traditional sedan’s hood would sit. Borrowing its design from the company’s 1988 Oxia supercar, it cleverly blurs the lines between interior and exterior design, focusing on cabin volume when viewed from above, but from the side, the Inception looks like a quintessentially sporty coupe or sedan.
We’ll have to wait and see if the crazy glass windows and the Tech Bar on the doors, which display information to approaching drivers, make it to production, but Peugeot insists the concept incorporates sporty curves, sharper lines and square shoulders for the future. car elements.
However, the Inception’s interior is still futuristic. As an alternative to Peugeot’s highly influential i-Cockpit interior, its focal point is the Hypersquare, a rectangular steering wheel inspired by video game controllers that combines a center-mounted tablet with four thumb-operated control rings , which Peugeot promises will fit into a real car by the end of the decade.
The wheels are connected to the front axle via steer-by-wire technology, and when the car’s Level 4 autonomous driving features are activated, it can be folded into the dashboard, and behind it is an unusual circular screen, which Peugeot calls the Halo Cluster. As far as the dashboard goes, that’s pretty much all you have, though the metal-look velvet upholstery covering the seats shaped to fit the driver and passenger should mean it’s homely and appropriately luxurious.
As for what’s underneath the exterior, well, it’s a concept car, so it’s likely powered by a leaf blower’s motor, but Peugeot says its theoretical dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup could deliver up to 671 horsepower (680 PS) power and accelerates the 197-inch (5-meter) sedan to 62 mph (100 km/h) in less than 3 seconds. Inductive charging eliminates the need for cables, but the 800-volt architecture can add 19 miles (30 kilometers) of range in five minutes, with a range of 500 miles (800 kilometers) if connected to a suitable fast charger.
