Peugeot to renew line-up in image of Inception concept
New picture previews a seven-member family of strongly styled, segment-bending electric cars
Future Peugeot models will take their lead from the radical Inception concept in “challenging conventional silhouettes”, and now an official image has shown just how dramatically they will be reinvented.
Peugeot’s electric line-up preview looks to comprise four low-slung cars – seemingly two hatchbacks and a saloon alongside a more mysterious model in the centre – and a trio of crossovers.
These point to radically redesigned successors to each of today’s models. The influence of the new Inception concept – displayed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year – is evident in their rakish silhouettes and distinctive ‘claw’ headlight designs, but also because each previewed model looks to be defined by a silhouette that doesn’t obviously belong to any one core market segment.
Speaking to Autocar at the Paris motor show last year, Peugeot’s chief designer, Matthias Hossann, highlighted the benefits of the new 408’s unconventional silhouette – namely that its raised ride height and spacious glasshouse boost practicality, while its rakish roofline promotes efficiency – and said future cars would follow suit.
“It shows the inventiveness of the brand, this new typology of product,” he said. “It’s not a sedan [saloon] any more, it’s not an SUV. It’s something else: a new species, a new breed of car, and I think when you see it physically, you can really appreciate these new proportions.”
Asked why it was important to rethink traditional vehicle categorisations, Hossann said: “We don’t want to be stuck to traditional sedans or SUVS any more,” he said. “We want to push for the future of Peugeot. So every time we design a new
car, we want to challenge the conservative silhouettes that we’re used to.”
Peugeot explored this messaging further with the Inception concept, which – unusually for a mainstream brand in 2023 – shunned conventional SUV design cues in favour of coupéesque proportions.
Peugeot was careful to clarify that it wouldn’t build a production version of the Inception necessarily but said that future models would draw inspiration from the way in which it covered several segments at once.
Indeed, product director Jerome Micherôn is convinced that the days of the traditional SUV could be numbered, saying recently: “We believe not everything is related to SUVS. We know the customer loves SUVS, but we see also the trend of very aerodynamic vehicles with a low roof for efficiency, so we believe there is life outside SUVS.”