Fans of the brutally monstrous BMW M3 may be amused to learn that there’s a French hybrid concept nipping at its heels. And whatever your feelings on hybrids, the spec of Peugeot’s tasty 508 Sport Engineered Concept can’t be ignored.
Big French saloons have traditionally been a bit of a flop – a Peugeot 605 or a Citroën C6 could never hope to compete with the ubiquitous Beemers and Mercs – but this 508 is a proper looker, and the powertrain sounds like a riot: it starts with the 197bhp 1.6-litre turbo four-pot from the 208 GTI, adds in a 110bhp electric motor, and both of these things power the front axle… then the rear end also gets a 200bhp motor for good measure.
Fans of maths will note that this adds up to 507bhp, although due to complicated battery situations and power delivery formulae that we don’t understand, peak combined power at any given configuration will be around 400bhp.
Still, that’s a massive number for a luxo-barge, and you know how immediate electric power is. Could this be enough to worry the M3? It’ll be fun finding out…
