Peugeot’s up to something. That may be a bit of a blanket statement - after all, car makers are ALWAYS up to something, otherwise they’d have no cars to sell. Peugeot, though, definitely appears to be up to something... interesting.
Design Lab, pianos, and an Irish connection
Peugeot’s in-house design studio has its own spinoff, the Peugeot Design Lab, which is supposed to be there to design things that aren’t cars, in the hope that such work will generate new and exciting inspiration which can be rolled back into car design. The Lab is probably most famous for its dramatic carbon-fibre grand piano, designed in cooperation with piano makers Pleyel, and overseen by then-head of the Design Lab, Ireland’s own Cathal Loughnane.
Since when, the Peugeot Design Lab has designed lots of other cool things, such as aircraft and aircraft interiors for French ‘plane maker Dassault, trains, trams, bicycles, furniture, all sorts. It’s the same basic idea as BMW’s DesignWorks and, of course, Italdesign - don’t just design cars, design lots of cool stuff and then the car designs become better through osmosis.
Now, though, the Design Lab appears to be turning its head back towards cars. Peugeot is celebrating the 25th anniversary of French rap band 113’s triumph at the 2000 Victoire De Le Musique awards - basically the French equivalent to the Brit Awards - and the iconic moment when the band arrived on stage driving a slightly battered Peugeot 504 Break (or, to you and I, estate).
Throwback to 2000 music awards
On the Peugeot Design Lab Instagram account, the design team has been showing off some work inspired by all of that. The first images were computer-animated pictures of the 504 Break used by 113 on the night, only with smooth surfaces, even more luggage on the roof and some mix-and-match body panel colours.
However, what followed was even more striking - a Peugeot 504 estate, but coated in an incredibly gaudy pink paint job, with more pink, in a Burberry-style check design with the new oblong ‘Hypersquare’ steering wheel (which is apparently coming to production) and a roll cage emblazoned with the 113 logo. At the rear, there’s a massive wing on stilts, a diffuser with an F1-style central fog light and huge racing tyres under enormous wheelarch extensions.
Pikes Peak hillclimb
As part of the post, Peugeot Design Lab says that this design is: “a crazy boosted one, ready for the Pikes Peak Hillclimb race or if you wanna go from Paris to the Bled like real quick.” There are a couple of references there - the Pikes Peak mention is clearly a nod to the incredible 1988 victory in the Pikes Peak hillclimb by the great Ari Vatanen in a specially designed Peugeot 405 T16 GR race car, not to mention the return, and victory, of the brand with Sebastian Loeb in 2013 with a Peugeot 208 T16.
The Bled reference is a little more deep cut. It’s a throwback to the classic 113 song ‘Tonton Du Bled’, named for the town in Slovenia, and produced for 113 by the great French producer DJ Mehdi, who sadly passed away in 2011.
Will we see more Peugeot Design Lab tributes to classic musical moments? Or is this a subtle hint that Peugeot wants to take on Renault when it comes to reviving classic designs and badges for the modern era? Watch this space. And most definitely keep an eye on the Peugeot Design Lab Insta.