Archive for Peugeot

A reader of South African website Wheels24 sent in these spyshots of the upcoming Peugeot 308 C-segment hatchback to the website. The photos were taken during a commercial shooting so the car is not camouflaged in anyway other than whatever cloths they threw on when they noticed the reader snapping photos. What does this mean for us?

Well, for one we might see the Peugeot 308 on roads soon if Cycle and Carriage decides to sell it here after it’s launch, and two - Naza might get to sell a locally assembled version of the previous Peugeot 307 model. Click the image for a larger look at the car.

These photos of a Peugeot holding car park were snapped showing the stationwagon variant of the 207 clearly. The Peugeot 207SW as expected is basically a Peugeot 207SW Outdoor Concept without all the soft-roading design elements and the funky concept-style lights.

The deadline for the announcement of Proton’s new partner is coming soon, but talks do not seem to be conclusive for favorites Volkswagen and PSA Peugoet Citroen. Previously, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamad Yakcop said Proton’s foreign strategic partner would be announced by the end of this month. This bad news adds more grief to the recent announcement of Proton’s 3rd straight quarterly loss.

Business weekly The Edge reported that talks between Proton and Volkswagen have hit a bumpy patch, and Volkswagen seems to be getting less and less keen as time passes by. It’s said that Volkswagen’s recently changed top management never really did agree to the Proton idea as much as the previous management did, so the deal might just be off if whatever problems the discussions are having right now are not sorted out quickly.

As for PSA Peugeot Citroen, it’s CEO Christian Streiff told newspaper Le Figaro that the French automaker has dropped all talks with Proton over a possible alliance. “Concerning alliances, I do not want to extend them to new partners. I would rather continue to get the most of out of the best alliances we have at the moment,” said Streiff, further reinforcing the statement that PSA would have nothing to do with Proton. It already has an alliance with a Malaysian automaker, Naza, which assembles the Peugeot 206 for local consumption as well as right hand drive exports.

(6/3/2007) UPDATE: An official press statement by PSA Peugeot Citroen continued to add that “PSA Peugeot Citroen has decided to discontinue the discussions launched in September 2006 with Proton. The talks focused on a possible co-operative venture to support the development of Peugeot and Citroen in Malaysia and to serve as a production base for the marques’ sales operations in the ASEAN region. An in-depth study of the automobile market and the economic conditions for co-producing vehicles with Proton concluded that the conditions for the project’s success were not present.”

News about Proton-General Motors talks have been almost non-existent, and GM is most probably having it’s hands full with the possible acquisition of Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler. So where does this put Proton?

Peugeot will be showcasing the awaited Peugeot 207 GTi THP 175 at the 77th Geneva International Motor Show, along with it’s 207 SW Outdoor Concept, 207 CC and the 4007 Outlander-based SUV.

The Peugeot 207 GTi THP 175 is positioned above the previously released Peugeot 207 GT THP 150, and both runs a 1.6 liter THP (Turbo High Pressure) engine. Yes, you got it right, the same engine as the one in the new R56 MINI Cooper S. While the 207 GT THP 150 is tuned lower at 150 horses, the 207 GTi THP 175 has similiar performance stats to the Cooper S - 240Nm of torque from an amazingly low 1,600rpm and 175 horses.

More details when Geneva rolls around the corner.

A natural progression to the offroader-looking stationwagon Peugeot 206 Escapade and Peugeot Escapade Concept would be a similar version based on the Peugeot 207, and them French guys have done it - here’s the Peugeot 207 SW Outdoor Concept.

Car manufacturers have realised that the market taste for the classic station wagon look is diminishing, thus offroader design elements like the roof rails and wheel arches have been pumped in to take advantage of the current SUV craze. Some of the features of this concept vehicle which gives us a previous of the upcoming SW variant of the Peugeot 207 are a panoramic glass roof, and a split-opening rear hatch. Expect the over the top lamp designs to be gone when the production version is unveiled.

The engine is a 1.6 liter HDi with diesel particulate filter, making 240Nm of torque from as low as 1,750rpm, with an overboost feature which brings torque up to 260Nm. The engine makes roughtly 107 horsepower at 4,000rpm.

More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Peugeot 207 SW Outdoor Concept

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and PSA Peugeot Citroën signed an agreement regarding the supply of turbodiesel engines by the French manufacturer to it’s Japanese partner. PSA Peugeot Citroën will supply it’s 2.2 liter common rail direct injection particulate filter turbodiesel engine to Mitsubishi.

PSA Peugoet Citroen has adapted the engine to be installed in it’s two SUVs based on the Mitsubishi Outlander platform - the Peugeot 4007 and the Citroen C-Crosser SUV, and Mitsubishi will be using the engine for it’s own Mitsubishi Outlander from mid-2007 onwards. The common rail direct injection turbodiesel makes 156 bhp and 380Nm of torque, and is biodiesel ready. Biodiesel fuel up to a 30% mixture can be used without any modification to the engine.

If anything happens between Proton and PSA Peugeot Citroen, I hope it somehow involves turbodiesels as it is somewhat essential for the European market.

Naza Wheels Sdn Bhd and Nasim Sdn Bhd, both companies under the Naza Group unveiled the Mazda 3 1.6 (A) sedan Naza Edition and the limited edition Peugeot 206XT 1.6 (A) Naza Edition imported direct from France. The cars are done up by NZ Galaxy Sdn Bhd, a company that envisions to provide personalize vehicles for the masses at affordable prices, from what I see, something like a car styling company.

The Mazda 3 1.6 (A) sedan Naza Edition goes for RM113,993 and comes with a NZ Galaxy bodykit, rims, a leather interior, tinted glass, rear tail finisher, special emblem and global positioning system with Malaysian and Singaporean maps. As for the Peugeot 206XT 1.6 (A) Naza Edition, it too has a new bodykit, a leather interior, crystal clear head lights, tail pipe finisher and the GPS system. Only 10 cars are available for sale at RM85,000.

Proton and PSA Peugeot Citroen’s technical feasibility studies have just concluded, and both parties are in the process of evaluating the results of the studies now. The feasibility studies included gauging the feasibility of collaborating in the areas of optimizing Protons production capacity focusing on contract assembly, product collaboration, supply of engine and components, and sales and distribution collaborative and contract assembly products.

The first fruits of BMW Group and PSA Peugeot Citroën’s collaboration is the Prince Engine, used in a few Peugeot cars like the 307, 207, 207 GT and the upcoming 207 GTI and BMW’s new 2nd generation MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper S (1.6 normally aspirated and turbo variants) as well as the upcoming MINI One (1.4 liter variant).

The Prince engine family has a 84 mm cylinder spacing and a 77 mm bore, with stroke varied to create two displacements - 1.4 liters and 1.6 liters. The 1.4 liter and 1.6 liter normally aspirated variants feature Valvetronic variable valve timing and a throttle butterfly-less design. The screamer is a 1.6 liter turbocharged variant, featuring a twin scroll turbocharger and gasoline direct injection, without the Valvetronic though. I’ve driven the MINI Cooper S featuring the new 1.6 liter turbocharged engine and it’s really something that takes your breath away - trust me!

The next step - more four-cylinder engine collaborations! We might see larger displacement 1.8 to 2.2 liter four cylinder engines that might end up in cars like the next generation 116i, 120i and the 320i, some of the lower-end BMWs that use four cylinder engines. While nothing is confirmed yet, a joint feasibility study is currently underway to study expected technological, industrial and financial benefits.

This is 23 year old Frenchman Xavier Sandrin’s entry to the 2007 Peugeot Design Contest and he calls it the Peugeot Mistral. Conceived as a sportscar, the Peugeot Mistral, obviously designed as an open wheel roadster promises the driver pure pleasure of control. Instead of all the previous concept car entries so far which use futuristic powerplants of one sort or another, Sandrin has decided to conceptually equip his Peugeot Mistral with a hybrid powertrain system.

His concept car is powered by a 2.0 liter HDI turbodiesel mounted at a front mid-ship position as well as a 30 kilowatt electric motor in each rear wheel - and what happens when you combined an electric motor’s high torque with the torque of a turbodiesel? Ridiculous acceleration for sure. More photos after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of 2007 Peugeot Design Contest: Peugeot Mistral