NEW PEUGEOT 9X8 HYPERCAR – DESIGNED TO RACE

PEUGEOT unveils the prototype of the Hypercar 9X8, its next-generation racing car, which will begin in 2022 in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). The PEUGEOT 9X8 is a highly efficient, hybrid-powered vehicle with a full transmission system and is part of the Neo-Performance strategy developed by PEUGEOT, which aims to deliver a more virtuous and responsible performance on both production and competitive vehicles. A new convergence of the work of the PEUGEOT Sport engineering team and the PEUGEOT Design team was implemented to give birth to 9X8.

It is after intense months of working together that the development engineers under the responsibility of Olivier Jansonnie, technical director of PEUGEOT Sport, and the designers led by Matthias Hossann, director of PEUGEOT Design, reveal the main lines and the aerodynamic concept of this PEUGEOT 9X8.

"I know the quality of work and innovation of the PEUGEOT Design and PEUGEOT Sport teams, but I have to say they have managed to surprise me with this magnificent 9X8: combining a powerful brand identity with such an elegant and innovative profile is absolutely brilliant,” commented Linda Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of PEUGEOT.

At the rear of the PEUGEOT 9X8, carefully chiselled elements house the three claws of the rear lights, surrounding a wide diffuser, overhung by the playful wording: “We need no rear wing.”

 “The new Le Mans Hypercar (LMH) regulations have been designed to even out conventional performance vectors,” explained Olivier Jansonnie, Technical Director of PEUGEOT Sport’s WEC programme. “It’s exciting because it’s now up to us to invent, innovate and find opportunities to generate performance that do not involve conventional means. This was very much the case as regards the aerodynamics. The regulations allow just one adjustable aerodynamic component, without specifying that this has to be the rear wing. Our calculations and simulations suggested that we could achieve very high performance levels without a rear wing.” 

In addition to aerodynamic, mechanical and electronic efficiency, top-level racing puts all of PEUGEOT engineering expertise to the test and more so at the 24 Hours of Le Mans – the sport’s extreme test – than anywhere else. The 5,400 kilometres covered by the cars at Le Mans in the world famous 24-hour race is more or less the same distance as covered by a Formula 1 car in an entire season. Unwavering reliability and efficiency is therefore required.

Linda Jackson insisted on this point: “PEUGEOT’s involvement in Endurance racing goes beyond just the racing itself: it’s an extreme test lab for PEUGEOT. It also explains why our connection with Le Mans is so strong. The sporting results are important, obviously, but perhaps more so is the validation of our technologies and our research at a 24-hour race held in ultimate racing conditions. We are able to test, in a demanding competitive setting, the hybrid system and technologies related to reducing fuel consumption – and therefore CO2 emissions – that we are currently developing for our production vehicles. Our PEUGEOT Sport teams are proud to see their research integrated in the vehicles in our product line-up. For our customers, this Le Mans test lab is a guarantee of the quality of our cars.” 

“We’ve never seen anything like it”, commented Loïc Duval, Jean-Eric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, Kevin Magnussen, Gustavo Menezes, Paul Di Resta and James Rossiter. All the drivers cannot wait to get behind the wheel for the first test sessions, which are provisionally scheduled to be held at the end of the year.