Peugeot unveiled its Inception concept, a lethal-looking electric vehicle with sharp edges and brutalist styling. The prototype, which was revealed at CES this week, will serve as inspiration for a variety of future EVs that will begin shipping to customers in 2025.
Stellantis, which owns Peugeot, had a busy CES schedule this year, featuring a Chrysler cockpit idea and a battery-electric Ram 1500 truck that borrows heavily from the muscle car world. With its rectangular steering wheel, hyper-minimal dashboard, and color-shifting interior, the Peugeot Inception was possibly the most CES-y of all the announcements. For some reason, there’s even a gadget inside the automobile dubbed “the Halo Cluster” with a 360-degree screen.
The Peugeot Inception will be built on the STLA Large platform, which is a bigger version of Stellantis’ modular EV platforms. (If you’re curious, there’s also an STLA Small, STLA Medium, and STLA Frame.)
The Inception is 16.4 feet (5 metres) long but only 4.39 (1.34 metres) tall. Because of its 800-volt design, it can add up to 93 miles (150 kilometres) of range in just five minutes of charging. It too has a 100kWh battery, although Peugeot says that it can go 497 miles (800 kilometres) on a single charge.
If the Inception appears to be rapid, it is. The idea has 680 horsepower (500kW) of giddyup and can accelerate from zero to 62mph (100km/h) in less than three seconds thanks to a dual-motor all-wheel drive configuration.
The new i-Cockpit has a new Hypersquare control system, which may win the distinction for “most ridiculous-sounding and needless brand names.” (I apologise, Hyperscreen.) The Hypersquare is essentially Peugeot’s infotainment screen, where you can manage banal stuff like navigation and media while simultaneously acting as the vehicle’s real steering wheel (steering rectangle?).
The Hyperquare uses a steer-by-wire technology, which means there is no mechanical link between the steering column and the wheels. However, when the vehicle switches to completely autonomous driving, the Hyperscreen retracts and is replaced with a massive panoramic screen that rises up from the floor.
A glass glazing used by NASA astronauts for their visors and a “tech bar” that runs around the exterior of the door to relay signals to approaching passengers are among the other intriguing concepts ping-ponging about within this prototype.
Despite its look as a lethal weapon, Peugeot claims the Inception is intended to be “user-friendly” and eventually to give a “optimistic” message about the brand’s future. Just keep your fingertips away from the edges.
Peugeot unveiled its Inception concept, a lethal-looking electric vehicle with sharp edges and brutalist styling. The prototype, which was revealed at CES this week, will serve as inspiration for a variety of future EVs that will begin shipping to customers in 2025.
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