The highlight of Peugeot’s booth at this year’s Paris Motor Show is this, the HR1 Concept. It is a fun and sporty 2-door SUV and it’s job is to asses the market for such vehicle. It is of course a hybrid, powered by a 1.2 litres 110 bhp THP engine linked to a 37 bhp electric motor putting out a maximum potential power of 147 bhp, with a combined fuel consumption of 81 mpg and CO2 emissions of just 80 g/km.
Being a lifestyley vehicle, the HR1 has a rather funky design which is based on several different body designs: city run-around, coupé, SUV and… Now that means it offers the best of each, but it also means the it’s not sure what it wants to be! It’s complicated, that’s why Peugeot just refers to it as an urban vehicle so they don’t have to explain it more!
The HR1 has two electric “scissor” doors for a cool look, and also to facilitate access under all circumstances. To improve visibility and manoeuvrability and provide a dominant driving position, the ride height of the vehicle has been raised, also improving ground clearance.
The HR1 is equipped with particularly innovative controls which operate what is known as the “man-machine interface”. The concept car thus has a “movement recognition” system. Simple and intuitive, this allows the driver to scroll through functions and select available settings with a simple movement of the hand.
The technology controlled by this method includes the audio, satellite navigation and air conditioning systems. The driver can also select, at his discretion, the preferred type of information to be displayed in the instrument panel: rev counter, water and oil temperature during “dynamic driving”, or tourist information when “cruising”. The front passenger, meanwhile, benefits from a mobile PC tablet which allows data to be shared and exchanged with the driver’s display.
The whole concept of the car is very cool and there’s definitely a big market for it, you know as long as it comes with a fair price, but the ingredients of it are way too conceptish. If it ever gets into production, they’re gonna have to dial down the funkiness.
