To unveil the broad outlines of its future all-electric Peugeot 208 – which is not due to go on sale until the second half of 2027 – and to stand up to competition that remains as fierce as ever, the manufacturer is making a bold statement with this stunning E-T16 concept car. It pays homage, of course, to the fabulous 1984 Peugeot 205 T16, conceived by Jean Todt and given the green light by Jean Boillot, Peugeot’s extraordinary boss at the time.
The 205 T16 won two World Rally Championship titles, in 1985 and 1986 (pictured above). So here we are, celebrating 40 years in style. Of course, to spot the future 208 in this concept car, you simply need to peel it back layer by layer, like an onion, to reveal a design that’s more… urban, less sporty and closer to a production model! And since onions make you cry, it’s sure to be some proper tears of nostalgia that will roll down the cheeks of enthusiasts – of whom LIGNES/auto is one – as they reminisce about the exploits of the 205 Turbo 16 in Group B.
That is why we made a conscious decision to take this E-T16 concept onto the snow and into the world of comic books. And in doing so, we’ve also paid homage to the ‘ligne claire’ style! A school of illustration, but the ‘ligne claire’ style applied to car design – why not? The use of image digitisation, via AI, is rather playful here and remains faithful to Peugeot’s official communication guidelines.
Technically, the Peugeot E-T16 is the answer to the Renault 5 Turbo 3E. Peugeot is rather proud of this, as it is the most powerful car ever produced by the Sochaux-based manufacturer. The power output is claimed to be 816 ch, six times that of a 208 Hybrid, whilst accelerating from 0 to 300 km/h requires – apart from a great deal of care – 16 seconds, six times less than it takes for your life-saving coffee to flow into your cup from a limescale-clogged coffee maker (which is a bit of a nuisance in the morning when your survival depends on a cup of coffee…). The three electric motors capable of delivering this power are distributed between the front (a single motor) and the rear (two motors).
The E-T16’s large ‘engine’ bonnet lifts up just like that of the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 and, whilst it doesn’t reveal the champion car’s four-cylinder turbo engine, it does allow you to admire its sophisticated suspension. At Renault, the R5 Turbo 3E makes do with 555 ch.
But its technical architecture is more avant-garde, featuring a ‘wheel-motor’ at the rear. Furthermore, production of the 1,980 units of the Renault has begun… But the E-T16 conveys other messages, such as the adaptability of its Hypersquare steering wheel, inspired here by that of the 9X8 from the World Endurance Championship.
The specialists at Peugeot Sport have adapted certain endurance racing technologies for the E-T16, such as a specialised battery cooling system, in order to maintain performance levels over the long term: Peugeot has announced that its E-T16 is capable of completing three laps of the legendary Nürburgring circuit – a distance of over 60 kg – in Perfo mode, with no power limitation. The battery, with a capacity of just 85 kWh, features an 800V charging system, providing a range of 400 km.
On the design front, Peugeot’s Head of Design, Matthias Hossann, explains that the concept “reinterprets the lines of the future E-208 by taking all the proportions to the extreme. A radical design that celebrates our heritage and transforms power and sportiness into a true design language. ’ This design language, known as Feline Future, will therefore hit the roads with the E-208 next year. It will, of course, have less character than the concept shown here, but it is intended to put Peugeot back in the running so it can better compete against the new entrants in the all-electric B-segment.
So, as we’ve seen, this devilish machine is primarily intended to generate a bit of a buzz and, above all, to keep us waiting until 2027. The production Peugeot E-208 has fallen a few months behind schedule following a change of direction whilst still in the development phase. But little by little, Peugeot is laying the foundations for a coherent and ambitious future. And, above all, it heralds a new design language inspired by the Polygon concept car. For those who’d rather stay warm and leave this world of snow, cold and ice behind, here are the official photos of the E-T16 concept, below…
THE PEUGEOT E-T16 CONCEPT IN… REAL LIFE!
The styling of the future Peugeot E-208 is clearly evident in this concept car. And it remains very strongly inspired by the 205’s design language. This is particularly evident in this three-door variant, in the area of the rear quarter panel… As for the front lighting signature, it is reminiscent of the three ‘whiskers’ on Gérard Welter’s Peugeot 205.
Whilst the prevailing impression is that only the front and rear ends have been redesigned, it is important to realise that this future E-208 is based on the new STLA One platform, featuring LFP batteries arranged in a cell-to-body configuration (which takes up less vertical space) and, above all, ‘by-wire’ steering with no mechanical link – a feature currently exclusive to Peugeot.
The second Peugeot concept car shown below, on display at the Paris Motor Show, pays tribute to the RCZ coupé and finally reveals the much-talked-about Hypersquare steering wheel and its integrated controls: read more on our website.
