A good concept car should really push the limits of what’s possible with regard to design and materials, and ideally leave you feeling just a bit uneasy, but in a good way. It needs to push boundaries and ideas, and I think Peugeot’s managed that with their Fractal concept, even if the name sounds right out of 1994.
Sure, most of us haven’t really thought about fractals since the mid-’90s when everyone seemed to have a poster of the Mandelbrot set somewhere, or at least a screensaver. But someone at Peugeot has re-discovered the idea, and actually has a sort of fresh take on it. The Fractal concept car, revealed now before it gets shown at the Frankfurt Auto Show coming up, is a striking electric ‘urban coupe’ (whatever the hell that means) with some really interesting styling details and textures.
The car has some fun proportions, with a sort of stubby take on the traditional long hood/short deck classic sportscar ratio, and there’s a lot of interesting faceting of the body panels in front. There’s a lot going on up front there, and it gets a little space-baroque, but I think it manages to work.
The car is also divided, color and texture-wise, at the roof and rear third, which looks to be clad in some sort of black carbon-fiber (or similar) material, contrasting with the pearly white of the rest of the car. That roof also appears to be removable, too.
The concept is powered by a pair of 170 HP electric motors, one per axle (so, AWD, I guess?) that give a combined 340 HP, and can go 280 miles on one charge of its mid-mounted Lithium-ion battery pack. Of course, it’s a concept, so remember that Peugeot probably pulled all of these numbers ex recto.
The interior looks very interesting, with textures and interior panels inspired by acoustic tiles from recording studios, and Peugeot says 80% of the interior materials were 3D-printed.
This is a novel electric car concept that’s not a slave to the usual electric car concepts’ eco or green design inspirations, and manages to be an appealing roadmap for future Peugeot design.
Oh, and they also describe their tires as “Tall&Narrow,” which is a sort of quaint throwback, and the car also features their new electric car sound-signature technologies, which the EU is about to start requiring so EV drivers can no longer sneak up on you, silent and ninja-like, and run you over. Here, I think you can have a listen here:
I’m curious to see how this goes over. So far, I think I like it.
Contact the author at jason@jalopnik.com.