Nissan received a whole heapin' helpin' of praise when it dropped the IDx concept, a throwback to the two-door Datsun 510 of yore. Then it disappeared, never to be seen or mentioned again. Let's hope that doesn't happen with Peugeot's latest concept, which follows along the same lines.
The Peugeot E-Legend Concept is a throwback-style concept car, inspired by the old-school 504 Coupe. The new concept is a marvel, sporting the same dual-headlight design as its forebear, along with some appropriately flowing fenders. Even the rear end borrows its taillight design from the 1960s, albeit with some updated aesthetics by way of thin LED strips. It's a very, very good look.
The interior is also equal parts new and old. Vintage-lookin' bucket seats are wrapped in velvet, like your grandfather's smoking jacket, but the remainder of the E-Legend's innards are about as futuristic as possible. The steering wheel is capable of folding into a dashboard that's largely comprised of screens. In fact, the interior has 16 differentscreens, tucked into the door panels, dashboard, sun visors and center console. A controller juts out from between the two front seats.
There's no internal combustion engine tucked away under all that flashy metal. Instead, it relies on an electric powertrain. Its electric motor puts out about 456 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, enough to theoretically shove the concept to 62 mph in under 4 seconds. With 100 kilowatt-hours of batteries on board, Peugeot estimates that its spry little coupe will have a range of about 373 miles by European-standard (WLTP) estimates.
While Peugeot understands that autonomy will have its place in the future, the E-Legend isn't entirely self-driving. Instead, the vehicle has four different modes — two autonomous, two manual. The autonomous modes shift between comfortable cruising and sharp driving, and the same goes for the manual modes. It's nice to have your cake and eat it, too, but sometimes it's nice to let a robot feed you that cake, too.
As if you didn't have enough reasons to get excited for the Paris Motor Show, this little wonder-coupe will be on display for the length of the show in Peugeot's booth. Roadshow will be on the ground in Paris later this month, and we'll make sure to get as close to it as Peugeot will let us.
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