Citing financial strain, Peugeot will not be returning to Le Mans 24-hour racing for the 2012 season. "This decision has been taken in the context of a difficult economic environment in Europe. Peugeot has chosen to concentrate resources on its sales performance in 2012." said Peugeot in a statement. The brand will instead focus on the launches of the 208, 3008 HYbrid, 508 RXH, 508 HYbrid4 and the 4008.
Peugeot and Audi have made endurance racing watchable the last few years thanks to their high-performance diesel racers. The Peugeot 908 ran a turbocharged 5.5-liter V12 making over 700 horsepower and almost 900 pound-feet of torque. Peugeot won 14 of its last 16 races.
Above is the 908 Hybrid4 Prototype shown in Geneva last year.
(Peugeot)
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Categories: Motorsports,Peugeot
The subcompact segment is rapidly growing here in the United States thanks to consumer demand and the fact that subcompact cars are no longer terrible. Far from it, they're actually very good. The new Chevy Sonic is one of the best cars I've driven this year.
Well, if we lived in Europe, there would be another new subcompact debuting. The Peugeot 208 is the second car to adopt Peugeot's new corporate face; a face vastly less frightening than the old one that resembled him or a creature from the deep.
Click the jump for some French arty press pictures of the 208, some of which actually include a full view of the car itself. C'est la vie.
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Categories: Peugeot
Last week the Peugeot EX1 set a Nurburgring lap record -- the first time in Peugeot's history they'd done that -- with a 9:01.338 on the 12.9-mile Green Hell. That means driver Stephane Caillet was averaging just under 86 mph in an electric car. The previous record was some 50 seconds slower, set by a Mini E.
The EX1 has 340 horsepower and 177 torque from two electric motors powered by a lithium-ion battery.
When this was first announced all we had were pictures of the extreme-looking EV, but now we've got video. And why wouldn't we? Look at all of those GoPros...
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Categories: Electric Vehicles,Motorsports,Peugeot
You may already know the Outlander Sport as the Mitsubishi RVR or ASX. Same difference, as all three refer to the same small SUV that Mitsu will build for the U.S., Japan and Europe, respectively. Today Mitsubishi announced that it will also build separate versions for Citroen and Peugeot. The French versions will go on sale in early 2012.
This is no surprise, as both halves of the French PSA alliance already sell a version of the larger Outlander crossover. Neither one has expertise at building the small SUVs that have carved out a niche in the European market. So they're calling upon Mitsu.
Notably, Peugeot and Citroen will use their own 1.6-liter HDi turbodiesel four-cylinder engine to keep fuel consumption to an absolute minimum on this small utility vehicle.
Inside Line News
Categories: Auto Industry,Citroen,Crossovers,Future Vehicles,Mitsubishi,Peugeot,SUVs
This concept car called the Peugeot SR1 has taken the Web by storm today after media photos began showing up on UK Web sites. Peugeot hasn't had many distinctive concepts touring the auto show circuit since the 908 RC, but the SR1 makes up for that by looking like an Aston Martin.
You'll notice the seating configuration of this convertible is an odd 2+1 arrangement. The drivetrain isn't any less weird with a 218-hp version the of the BMW/PSA 1.6-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder (you know, the Mini Cooper S engine) motivating the front wheels and a 95-hp electric motor driving the rears. Peugeot is calling it all-wheel-drive, apparently, but obviously, that's not quite exactly true.
Still, Gilles Vidal, Peugeot's new design director, says the SR1 is a statement of design intent for all Peugeot production models of the near future. Reports indicate that that the Peugeot SR1 convertible will be on display at the Geneva Auto Show in March -- a good guess given the Francophile ambience of that show.
Car, Automobile, TopSpeed
Categories: Concept Vehicles,Convertibles,Geneva Motor Show,Hybrids,Peugeot
Yes, there's a rumor that Sebastian Loeb, Kimi Raikkonen and David Coulthard will drive a Red Bull-sponsored Peugeot 908 HDi at Le Mans in June 2010. No confirmation of any kind but, as usual, Twitter is hopping.
Twitter, Axis of Oversteer
Categories: Motorsports,Peugeot
Six years have done little to blunt the impact of this incident. Thank you, Marcus for the visual aid. We're pretty sure we get now.
Categories: Motorsports,Peugeot
Mitsubishi has been struggling for years now, and a report out of Japan today from the Nikkei news service suggests that Mitsu is in the "final stages" of negotiating a deal with PSA, the alliance of the French automakers Peugeot and Citroen. PSA would take at least a 50-percent stake in Mitsubishi.
What's in it for these parties? Well, it's thought that Mitsubishi could really use cash and a partner with which to develop new models (the Lancer/Outlander family is its newest model line, remember, and that architecture dates back to Mitsu's defunct alliance with Chrysler).
Meanwhile, Peugeot-Citroen are said to be interested in Mitsubishi's work with electric cars (i.e., the i-MiEV) and SUVs (both companies already rebadge versions of the Outlander).
Although Mitsubishi is downplaying this report, it's expected that an announcement will come soon.
Inside Line News: Mitsubishi and Peugeot Talking Tieup
Categories: Auto Industry,Citroen,Mitsubishi,Peugeot
According to a report in the Financial Times, BMW has been talking seriously with Renault about sharing a small car platform for future Mini models.
BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer wouldn't offer up any comments on the matter at a shareholder's meeting yesterday, but the FT's report says that industry insiders claim that talks are well under way already.
In addition to sharing a platform for future Mini products, BMW and Renault are also discussing the shared use of smaller parts modules that could be used on BMW's core model lineup.
FT.com: BMW Considers Sharing Mini Platform
Categories: Auto Industry,Hatchbacks,MINI,Peugeot
Considering how many American autoworkers are losing their jobs this year, the reaction here has been comparatively mild. To our knowledge, no one has threatened to blow up a plant. But that's exactly what's going down in France right now.
All 316 workers at the partsmaker New Fabris will be losing their jobs after the factory closed June 16. New Fabris was a parts supplier to Renault and PSA (the Citroen-Peugeot alliance), and the workers are demanding 30,000 euros (almost $43,000) each in compensation from the automakers.
They've set a deadline of July 31, and workers are taking turns guarding cannisters of acetylene and butane once used to power tractors at the plant.
Auto Observer: French Auto Workers Threaten To Blow Up Factory
Associated Press
Categories: Citroen,Peugeot,Renault
Peugeot beat Audi to pole position for the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on Saturday, June 13. Both teams had spent much of the qualifying sessions working on race setups, but with ten minutes to go in the second session, Stephane Sarrazin took his no. 8 Peugeot 908 HDi FAP onto the circuit with orders to grab pole position away from Allan McNish in the no. 1 Audi R15 TDI.
Sarrazin threaded his way through slower cars on the 8.5-mile track to record a lap in 3:22.888, just 0.8 seconds quicker than McNish, for an average speed of 149.8 mph. This is the third consecutive pole at Le Mans for the Peugeot, while Audi has won the race overall eight of the last nine years. Both the diesel-powered sports cars are slightly slower around the track this year because of new regulations to make the gasoline-powered cars more competitive. The no. 7 Lola Aston-Martin was the quickest of these with a lap of 3:27.704.
Caspar Elgaard drove a Porsche Spyder RS to the pole in the LMP2 class in 3:37.720. The no. 63 Chevrolet Corvette C.6R of Jan Magnussen took the pole in the LM GT1 category with a best lap of 3.54.230, while the Porsche GT3 RSR of Flying Lizard Racing's Jorg Bergmeister took the pole for the GT2 category with a 4:03.202.
Audi's narrow victory over Peugeot in last year's race has revived interest in the endurance contest after a decade of dominance by Audi (and Bentley, its subsidiary), and enthusiasm has also been aroused by access through the Internet. Audi offers coverage through its own site (http://www.audir15tdi.com/) as well as sites on Facebook (fb.audir15tdi.com), Twitter (tw.audir15tdi.com), and YouTube (yt.audir15tdi).
If you've not swallowing the Audi Kool-aid, Peugeot Sport offers its own outlet (lemans.peugeot-sport.com/en) as does Corvette Racing (http://www.corvetteracing.com/). The official Le Mans site (http://www.lemans.org/24heuresdumans/pages/accueil_gb.html) is useful as well.
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Categories: Audi,Chevrolet,Motorsports,Peugeot,Porsche
A race is kind of like a physics test, a high-speed evaluation of automotive machinery. But the best thing about sports car racing is, there isn't just one right answer.
The 12 Hours of Sebring provide a worthwhile reminder, as a surprising number of different exam booklets were submitted for the 57th running of the annual, twelve-hour endurance race in Florida. This road-racing event is part of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), one of the few racing championships that is about cars, not just money. In comparison, Formula 1 and NASCAR look like one-make spec-car series, where the only way to tell the cars apart is by color and sponsorship decals.
The Audi R15 TDI earned the gold medal in this particular physics test by narrowly winning the race by just 22.279 seconds over the Peugeot 908 HDi FAP with which it had rubbed fenders for virtually the entire 12 hours. But the Acura ARX-02a, BMW M3 GT2, and Lola B09/86-Mazda MZR-R also came up with some interesting answers.
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Categories: Acura,Audi,BMW,Car Tech,Diesels,Mazda,Motorsports,Peugeot,Sports Cars
More evidence of the world-wide popularity of the Korean auto giant Hyundai-Kia, as they passed Honda in global sales in 2007. Hyundai-Kia is now ranked fifth in terms, which is previously the rank Honda held.
The Korean automaker was ranked 11th place in 1999, but moved up to 5th place in 2007 by out-selling rivals such as Honda, Nissan, PSA / Peugeot, Chrysler and Fiat.
Now Hyundai-Kia's global sales for 2007 were 3,961,629, whereas Honda sold 3,831,000 vehicles. Hyundai-Kia has shot up six places in just eight years, according to Automotive News' 2008 Global Data Book.
Full story here.
Categories: Auto Industry,Chrysler,Fiat,Honda,Hyundai,Kia,Nissan,Peugeot,Trends
In qualifying for the 76th running of the 24-Hours of LeMans this weekend, Peugeot obliterates the lap record with their 908 diesel racer. Stephane Sarrazin, in the No.8 car, lapped 7.8 seconds quicker than last year's pole time with a best of 3:18.513. Teammate Franck Montagny put the No.9 car just one tenth of a second behind, and Nicolas Minassian completed a lockout of the top three.
Full story
here
and
here
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Categories: Motorsports,Peugeot
Well, I have to admit that this is news to me: A 1938 Peugeot 402 with a folding hardtop. This must be the earliest example of this technology, that is currently all the rage, that I'm aware of. I had always thought that the 1957 Ford Skyliner was the first, but this clearly shows that wasn't the case.
Full story here
...
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Categories: Classic Cars,Ford,Peugeot
Look familiar? Both the Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C Crosser are essentially the Mitsubishi Outlander. Each version has a slightly different nose but inside it looks just like the Mitsu, chevron or lion logo on the steering wheel notwithstanding.
My favorite part is how garish and un-European the large subwoofer and Rockford Fosgate logo look when you open the rear tailgate...
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Categories: Citroen,Frankfurt Auto Show,Mitsubishi,Peugeot
Here's another French concept car that had us scratching our heads. The Peugeot 308 RC Z is an obvious Audi TT knockoff, but there's some Mitsubishi Eclipse in there along with bits and pieces of Nissan 350Z. If someone told us they were designing a car that mixed that many design elements, we would not be looking forward to the results.
Remarkably enough, this Peugeot looks quite striking, if not a little odd from the back...
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Categories: Coupes,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
I'll admit it, I have odd taste in cars. I've even been accused of not liking cars at all because I'd rather spend the day in a Lexus rather than a WRX STI.
I really love auto shows like Frankfurt because there's so much stuff that we never get to see or drive in the U.S. Peugeot's 407 Coupe is a car I'd love to take home...
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Categories: Citroen,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
While not exactly all-new (in fact it's been on sale since 2004), the tiny 2-door Peugeot 1007 is interesting in that it offers minivan-like sliding front doors.
What a great idea! Where is written that sliding doors have to occur only on minivans?
Check it out on the Peugeot International web site
here
. More discussion can be found
here
(if you scroll down a bit) on
Karl on Cars
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Categories: Peugeot
Okay, I gotta admit I'm not a big fan of Peugeot styling. That goes for all their vehicles. They're French. They're interesting, for sure...
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Categories: All Auto Shows,Audi,Coupes,Frankfurt Auto Show,Peugeot
