Back when Group B rally cars were running virtually unrestricted, faster than sense or safety, newscasters called them 'supercars.' What if you took that Group B tech and applied it to a traditional supercar concept?
This is the Peugeot Quasar concept from 1984. Anyone familiar with Peugeot's incredible 205 T16 rally car will find this car's setup familiar.
Behind the driver and before the rear axle is a 600 horsepower turbo four cylinder. The engine drives all four wheels. Everything else in the setup of the Quasar mirrors the 205, as well.
Only while the rally car looks like an ordinary hatchback (a hatchback on steroids, but a hatchback nonetheless), the Quasar is full on supercar style.
It even had scissor doors!
The interior might be the best part of this thing. Check out this Car Design News explanation.
The IP, doors and seats were covered in a particularly strident shade of red leather, with each seat back featuring an embossed Peugeot lion logo in reference to the brand's increasing confidence. As a contrast, the carpets were a similarly-strong shade of blue.
The interior design was heavily inspired by sci-fi, with electronics firm Clarion developing the electronic gauge pack; the hi-fi, complete with controls on the passenger side, and its centre-mounted CRT monitor, which displayed navigation information and sent and received telex messages. However, the car's exposed mechanical theme was continued, with pedals that pivoted visibly behind the dashboard.
The concept of this thing was proven in the following two years. The mechanicals, in the 205 T16, won the World Rally Championship in 1985 and 1986.
Man, Peugeot had it going on in the '80s.
Photo Credits: Peugeot (topshot is the initial drawing by designer Paul Bracq himself)
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