Beijing show: Peugeot crosses the compact SUV line

PEUGEOT has unveiled an ‘Urban Crossover Concept’ at the Beijing motor show this week, offering a “new vision” of a sub-compact SUV that moves the French brand away from its current product-sharing offerings such as the Mitsubishi ASX-derived 4008 soon to be launched in Australia.

The new compact crossover design is credited to in-house teams in Paris, Shanghai and Sao Paulo and is described as marrying the “elegance and refinement” of a sedan and the “cheekiness and mischievousness” of an SUV with a “multi-role capability and unusual spaciousness” for this increasingly popular genre.

It further develops the themes expressed in the larger SXC concept unveiled at the Shanghai motor show last year, downsizing them into an urban-centred B-segment (light-car) package.

Specifications are thin on the ground, but Peugeot has revealed that the Urban Crossover Concept measures 4140mm long and 1740mm wide, making it slightly smaller than the 4008 (4340mm long and 1800mm wide) but a little longer and narrower than the conceptually similar HR1 concept unveiled at the Paris motor show in 2010.

There is no word on the concept’s donor vehicle architecture or drivetrain, but, like the HR1, it is understood to be based on the same platform as the 208 series.

As previously reported, the HR1 relied on Peugeot’s HYbrid4 technology, with a rear-mounted 27kW electric motor combining with an 81kW/195Nm 1.2-litre petrol engine to achieve reduced emissions, a short pure-electric range and four-wheel-drive capability.

Peugeot says the Urban Crossover Concept embodies its “know-how in creating a small vehicle combining agility, compactness, multi-role ability and confident styling at the service of young city dwellers”.