JOHANNESBURG - Peugeot has revealed details of its new 9X8, the company’s latest-generation hypercar that is set to make its competitive debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) in 2022. Powered by hybrid technology and featuring all-wheel drive, the new 9X8 is said to showcase Peugeot’s electrified performance strategy, which combines technology and sportiness in both its road and race cars.
The 9X8 is a product of the latest work between Peugeot Sport and Peugeot Design. The company is confident that the car heralds a new era in racing and a new era in race car design.
Here are six things you need to know about the Peugeot 9X8 hypercar:
1) The Peugeot 9X8 is a direct successor to the Peugeot 905, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1992 and 1993, and the Peugeot 908, which won the iconic race in 2009. The manufacturer says the new prototype race car is poised to continue the brand’s successful history in top-level motorsport.
2) The 9X8 hypercar is a brand-driven project highlighting Peugeot’s new ‘Neo-Performance’ vision which is built around combining a premium sporting pedigree with styling excellence, efficiency and technological expertise that can be carried over to its road cars.
3) Peugeot’s Design team has worked in collaboration with its racing division, Peugeot Sport, to explore new aerodynamic solutions and styling ideas to create a completely original race car. Greater flexibility, allowed by the sport’s new technical rules regarding aerodynamics, permits new thinking that favours the emergence of innovative cars, allowing for new creative processes and a break away from established procedures to produce a hypercar for a completely new era.
4) The name of Peugeot’s new hypercar competitor, the PEUGEOT 9X8, is inspired by a combination of the brand’s motorsport heritage and vision for the future. The “9” continues the series employed by PEUGEOT on its previous race cars, the PEUGEOT 905 (which raced from 1990 until 1993) and the 908 (2007 until 2011), both of which have become icons. The “X” refers to the hypercar’s all-wheel drive technology and hybrid powertrain. The “8” is common across all of Peugeot’s current model names, from the 208 and 2008 to the 308, 3008, 5008 and, of course, the 508.
5) The 9X8’s front and rear lighting signatures, which take the form of three claw-like strokes, are familiar Peugeot trademarks, while the brand’s new lion’s head logo features at the front and on the sides of the car. The Selenium Grey and contrasting Kryptonite acid green/yellow highlights, featured on both the body and inside the cockpit, echo the colour scheme chosen for the latest Peugeot road cars.
6) The sculpted wheels contribute to the balanced lines of the car’s uncluttered, sharply-structured flanks, while the wing vents reveal the top of the tyres and the perfectly-integrated mirrors contribute to the car’s aerodynamics.
Peugeot will be fielding two 9X8 racing cars in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship. The car is powered by a unique rear-mounted, 2.6-litre, bi-turbo, 500kW, 90-degree V6. Up front it sports a 200kW electric motor running a 900 volt architecture. Power and torque from the drive units are sent to all four wheels via a smart drive system that can provide for torque vectoring.