Is Peugeot’s L500 R HYbrid concept worth getting excited about or just more HYpe?
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Is Peugeot’s L500 R HYbrid concept worth getting excited about or just more HYpe?

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By DanGoAuto - 20 June 2016

WITH the discontinuation of the RCZ coupe, Peugeot has to rely on its new 308 GTi small hatchback to carry the sporty flag in the Australian new car market, but the French car-maker is very fond of teasing fans of the brand with the possibility of a thoroughbred supercar.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its victory at the Indianapolis 500 endurance race, Peugeot has revealed a radical hybrid concept dubbed the L500 R HYbrid, and as with all design study vehicles, the radical coupe could be hinting at a new sports halo for the company.

No that’s not a typo. Peugeot’s HYbrid moniker has two capitals and causes real problems for auto-correct.

The rakish racer is very much confined to the realm of concepts for now but both its styling and petrol/electric hybrid powertrain could be pointing to the company’s future of more environmentally sensitive propulsion.

Peugeot has not detailed exactly what kind of spark-ignition engine powers the L500 but it has revealed that petrol power is combined with a pair of electric motors for a combined power output of 373kW and 730Nm of torque.

That’s enough to smash the concept through the 100km/h benchmark from standstill in a eye watering 2.5 seconds.

Even if it never turned a wheel under its own power, the L500 R HYbrid has looks that suggest giant-slaying performance.

Peugeot has also gone light on other technical details including construction methods and materials as well as chassis configuration, but as it weighs in at just 1000kg, it is likely that cutting edge carbon-fibre and exotic materials are used extensively.

Measuring just 1000mm tall, the L500 is all about performance and has the looks to match. With such a low profile, the windscreen is hardly raked, side windows are barely more than letter-box slots, while the back end is purposeful and modern but hints at the Indianapolis-winning L45 of 1916.

Peugeot took victory from the Americans at the Indianapolis 500 by maintaining an average speed of 135km/h in its L45 racer. Not bad for 1916!

Its multi-segmented blue, red and matte black paint scheme is both a continuation of Peugeot’s two tone calling card that is optional for the production 308 GTi and another nod to the L45.

On the inside, the concept is just as outrageous as the exterior styling and with room for just one on board the cabin is more racer than road car. The “floating capsule” is more escape pod than racing cockpit and can be released from the vehicle as a separate module.

You thought Audi’s virtual cockpit fully digital interment display was cool? Well the Peugeot has a holographic display for projecting vehicle information and circuit information like a virtual co-driver.

If you run into trouble in the L500 R, its single seat appears as though it could be ejected to safety.

But if that is not futuristic enough, a virtual reality headset is also provided for simulating a co-driver and a real-time driving experience. We are not entirely certain how well the feature would work but we are fairly sure the system would not be authorised for use on Australian roads.

Peugeot concept car and technological advance chief Matthias Hossann said the L500 R HYbrid was designed to pay tribute to Peugeot's past racing successes.

“With Peugeot L500 R HYbrid we’re paying tribute to Peugeot racing exploits dating to the early 20th century,” he said.

Hardly recognisable as a car from the rear, the L500 R HYbrid was designed with aerodynamics as a priority and wears tyres that have a pattern not of this world.

“Inspired by this spirit of performance and innovation we wanted to convey a sculptural, elegant and technological view of the future of Peugeot motor sport.”

But before you dash off to clear some garage space and book in a few upcoming track days, just take a moment to consider Peugeot’s history of tantalising concept cars, because the car-maker has pulled a very similar stunt before.

At the 2012 Paris motor show, Peugeot puled the covers from its Onyx concept revealing a low and flat racer with a high-performance hybrid powertrain and suggestive two-tone bronze and black paintwork.

Peugeot’s Onyx concept got everyone guessing in 2012 when it debuted with a 3.7-litre V8 diesel engine that sent 447kW to the rear wheels.

The ravishing show-car was touted around for months with the french car-maker remaining tight lipped as to whether the Onyx might preview a road-going flagship for the company, but the car eventually slipped into obscurity.

Then again, in 2015, Peugeot unveiled another fabulously fast, low-slung racer for the track dubbed the Vision Gran Turismo. Once again, the company created a commotion in the motoring world, but this time the car didn’t even make it beyond the virtual world and if you wanted to drive it you would have to turn on your Sony Playstation.

Peugeot was not the only marque guilty of teasing car lovers with a sports halo confined to pixels in a screen, with virtually all the mainstream brands progressively submitting their own interpretations of a car that isnt bound by the restrictions of the real world.

With no mortal bounds to hold the Gran Turismo game car back, Peugeot’s Vision GT concept could go from zero to 100km/h in 1.73 seconds, which is very specific, and hard to believe.

Still not enough tantalising? Okay well take the Peugeot Fractal concept that broke cover at the Frankfurt show last year.

That car was a tiny electric convertible sportscar with a focus on the aural experience of driving with an artificially generated noise that both alerted pedestrians to the car’s presence and is satisfying for the driver. It also used a range of pioneering tech to communicate information to the driver through sound and vibration.

Oh and you guessed it - that car had two tone paint.

Almost every aspect of the L500 R HYbrid is unlike any concept before it… Except the two concepts Peugeot has released previously.

As car lovers, we all like a whacky concept and far-fetched one-off show car as long as the potentially unfeasible vehicle evolves into something you can write a cheque for in a showroom at a point in the future, but despite Peugeot’s growing line of theoretical sportscars a production version is yet to materialise.

Is Peugeot’s concept car strategy bolstering the company as a left field and lateral-thinking car-maker, or is it rapidly becoming the brand that called wolf?

Daniel Gardner GoAuto.com.au

Protect your Peugeot. Call Shannons Insurance on 13 46 46 to get a quote today.