Prototypes of Peugeot: 30 years of innovation in design and performance

At the 1984 Paris Motor Show the French brand Peugeot presented what would become its first prototype. It was the Peugeot Quasar, and it has become the benchmark on which the rest of the later models were built, right up to the present day. Its technology and design have inspired not only the other prototypes presented, but also the production cars that have come out of its factories.

To celebrate its arrival in the world of spectacular prototypes Peugeot, it has opened an exhibition that traces those thirty years of impossible cars and impossible technologies applied to driving and to the development of engines and other elements that we see in our modest road cars.

The Museum of Adventure Peugeot hosts this display, which features 30 concept cars developed by Peugeot’s designers. Among them we will see the first prototype, the Peugeot Quasar, alongside the other two that marked the importance of the 1980s for the company, the Peugeot Próxima and the Peugeot Oxia.

Alongside these now classic vehicles we will also see more recent models such as the Peugeot Onyx and the latest one, the Peugeot 208 Hybrid FE. Between these early ones and the most recent there have been several more concept models, which have incorporated important innovations that originated with the Quasar and continue to drive new advances to be applied to the manufacturer’s models.

The Quasar, which inaugurated this era of prototypes, stood out for a design that sought to resemble the spaceships of the films of those years. It was designed at the design centre of the ‘La Garenne‘ brand (France), with a glazed canopy and doors opening at a 180-degree angle.

The front end was incisive and signalled the sporty character of the model. The rear showed the engine block exposed. This was a 1.6-litre twin-turbo unit with an air-to-air intercooler that reached 600 CV. In this spectacular line the closest in time are the Peugeot Onyx and the Peugeot RCZ R, which follow the line begun by the French marque in 1984.

Source | Peugeot