Peugeot to show new version of Exalt concept in Paris

The Peugeot EXALT concept vehicle will have a new livery for the Paris Motor Show. Photo / Supplied

Peugeot is showcasing the Exalt concept in a new livery at the Paris Motor Show next month.

The car body features shades of grey that segue from the bare steel covering the majority of the exterior to the distinctive Shark Skin rear end. Inside, the Newspaper Wood finish borrows (literally) from the pages of major business dailies. The tailgate features an ingenious opening mechanism and provides easy access to the HYbrid-kick, an innovative electric scooter, stowed below the boot bottom.

With the Exalt , Peugeot continues to build on the imposing vision of the sedan it first unveiled with as the Onyx concept in 2012. A vision embodied by materials that achieve a blend of balance, local sourcing, recycling-based production and more.

"Peugeot's 125-year automobile history is punctuated by models that made a mark on their era. With the Exalt concept, the brand has reasserted its position and opened a new chapter. We are moving forward, resolutely, with confidence," says Maxime Picat, Peugeot's CEO.

Sitting on wide tracks with rounded wheel arches, the five-door hatchback showcases its style over a length of 4.70m, combining flat surfaces and straight-cut lines to strike the perfect balance between aggressiveness and softness.

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In homage to the art form that was the French motor car from the twenties and thirties, the car's bare steel bodywork is hand-formed by a master panel beater.

The Exalt is one of a kind, offering a fresh take on time-honoured traits synonymous with automobile passion: taut, dynamic lines, a high waist line, a raked windscreen, a low roof (just 1.31m), a very slender profile that conceals a nonetheless spacious cabin, tightly shaped side panels with basalt-fibre sills and 20-inch wheels.

The long bonnet grows out of a particularly expressive front end, where the twin headlamps, set in the bumper, integrate the brand's recognisable signature lighting. In the middle, the powerful grille emerges from the bodywork and provides the backdrop for the lion. At the bottom, the flow of air supplying the engine is divided by fins housing the LED indicators.

Weighing just 1,700kg, the Exalt is powered by a plug-in HYbrid4 drive train with a total maximum power of 253kW shared between the four wheels.

The chiselled bonnet houses the 1.6L THP 200kW engine developed by Peugeot Sport. Coupled with a six-speed automatic gearbox, this four-cylinder petrol engine develops a specific power output of nearly 127kW per litre, making it one of the best in the world.

The multi-link rear axle contains a 50 kW electric motor for electric or hybrid phases of operation. This motor is also used to recharge the battery through energy-recovery braking. On deceleration, braking is produced by the resistant torque of the electric motor. In this way HYbrid4 technology draws electricity from kinetic energy that would otherwise be dissipated as heat through the brake discs and pads.

With the Exalt, Peugeot has unveiled its imposing vision of the sedan, demonstrating once again that emotion is an integral part of its heritage and genes.

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