Peugeot claims that its new EV concept, dubbed the Peugeot Inception concept, heralds a new direction for the French brand.
French automaker Peugeot recently revealed its new Inception concept, a future-driven electric car (EV) that has out-of-this-world design aesthetics and plenty of futuristic technology to boot.
The concept, announced at both CES and an online premiere, will probably not be built. But, it will inspire Peugeot’s future EV lineup that will start making its way to customers starting in 2025.
If you watched futuristic sci-fi films, or love the vehicles in films like Tron and Ready Player One, the Peugeot Inception concept will be right up your alley. A rectangular steering wheel gives way to a hyper-minimal dashboard, all wrapped up in a colour-shifting interior that can change with your mood.
But, all of those details pale in comparison to the “Halo Cluster”, which in layman’s terms is a funky-looking 360-degree screen. What will it be used for, it wasn’t revealed, and we haven’t a clue.
The Inception apparently is based on Stellantis’ modular STLA Large platform. At 5 metres long, she’s a long girl, but amazingly the car’s height tops out at just 1.34 metres. An 800-volt battery architecture enables it to add up to 150 kilometres of range in just five minutes of charging. All that juice is pumped into a chunky 100kWh battery, and Peugeot claims it has a theoretical range of 800 kilometres. But, takes these details with a pinch of salt. It is a concept after all.
If the Inception looks like it can dart away in a heartbeat, that’s because it can. Dual motors and an all-wheel drive (AWD) layout bestows the concept with roughly 680 horsepower. The century sprint (0-100km/h)? Well, try less than three seconds on for size.
Improving on Peugeot’s homegrown i-Cockpit system, the Inception features something new, and it’s dubbed the Hypersquare control system. Challenging the big cheesy infotainment names in the industry (looking at you, Hyperscreen), the Hypersquare is basically your current car’s infotainment screen, albeit much larger. The interesting bit? It can also serve as the actual steering wheel (is it really a wheel though?) for the whole vehicle.
In fully autonomous mode, the Hyperscreen retracts and hides away, replaced by a gigantic panoramic screen that rises up out of the floor. How quaint.
Being a concept, a lot of features touted for the car are still under wraps. Peugeot did hint at window glazing used by NASA astronauts, to block out the sun… more effectively? Oh, and a “tech bar” that runs across the outside of the car’s doors to communicate messages to approaching passengers. This will be amazing for road rage incidents.
Despite having the looks to kill, Peugeot reiterates that it wishes for the Inception to be “user-friendly”, with the car ultimately meant to deliver an “optimistic” message about the future of the brand.
Just try not and cut your fingers when touching it.
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