French automaker Peugeot has unveiled yet another alternative-propulsion concept vehicle, the HX1, on the heels of its sporty EX1 and SR1 (which won a 10Best Concept Car award). The title of this post says it all, really. The HX1 is a suicide-scissor-doored plug-in hybrid hatchback, and it will make its debut at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show.
Those fancy doors open to a spacious and predictably futurephilic interior that, at first blush, appears to seat just four. The HX1, in fact, can hold up to six humans—without any awkward lap-sitting—courtesy of two jump seats that deploy from the center console in between the front and rear rows. A multi-configurable driver display, split steering wheel, and wood flooring are a few of the more out-there interior flourishes. The show-car interior is wrapped in stretched hatchback bodywork. Designers pushed the HX1’s wheels way out to its corners, giving it an elongated and sleek look.
The HX1 may be highly conceptual, but most of the technology it features is steadily grounded in reality. The concept borrows its diesel-electric hybrid tech from the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 and upcoming 508 RXH, but adds plug-in capability. The HX1 also shares those cars’ unique “through-the-road” hybrid layout, in which a small diesel engine powers the front wheels and an electric motor powers the rears. Like other hybrids, that electric motor also recoups braking energy to feed the battery, but it and the engine aren’t mechanically linked. The HX1’s 204-hp diesel and six-speed automatic transmission are borrowed from Peugeot’s 508 GT. The rear-mounted electric motor produces 95 hp, and total system output is a healthy 299 hp. Thanks to the plug-in functionality, the HX1 is claimed to be able to travel 18.6 miles under electric power before its lithium-ion battery pack is depleted.
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