Meet Peugeot Sport’s New 9X8 Electric Hypercar For The 24 Hours Of LeMans!

The Peugeot brand has taken the wraps off of its new 9X8, the brand’s latest-generation Hypercar challenger which is poised to make its competitive debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) in 2022. Powered by a hybrid power unit which-drives through an all-wheel-drive transmission, the hyper-efficient prototype perfectly with Peugeot’s Neo-Performance strategy.

The work of the Peugeot Sport’s engineering team and Peugeot Design have combined like never before to produce the 9X8 which heralds a new era in motor racing due to its flowing lines, the absence of a rear wing, and the strong brand identity it exudes. The innovative technical solutions it packs and its catlike stance stand out as unmistakable Peugeot hallmarks.

The Peugeot 9X8 – the brand’s latest endurance racing contender – 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 French classic in 2009. The new prototype is poised to continue the make’s long and successful involvement in world-class motorsport with highly competitive cars that feature strong, instantly recognizable brand identity.

The Peugeot 9X8 is a brand-driven project in accordance with its Neo-Performance vision which is founded on combining a premium sporting pedigree with styling excellence, efficiency, and technological expertise that can be carried over to the road cars.

An unprecedented collaboration between Peugeot’s Design and Engineering teams and Peugeot Sport is effectively making a decisive difference when it comes to exploring new aerodynamic solutions and styling ideas to create a completely original product line.

“Since the 9X8 is a Peugeot, the original sketch that steered our work portrayed a big cat ready to pounce, a stance which we have suggested by the slightly forward-tilting cockpit”, notes Peugeot Design Director Matthias Hossann. “The overall lines of the Peugeot 9X8 express the brand’s styling cues, while its sleek, racy, elegant forms inspire emotion and dynamism.”

The “9” continues the series employed by the manufacturer for its recent topflight endurance racing cars, namely the Peugeot 905 (which raced from 1990 until 1993) and the 908 (2007 until 2011), both of which became icons of the brand.

The “X” refers to the Peugeot Hypercar’s all-wheel-drive technology and hybrid powertrain which embodies the brand’s electrification strategy in the world of motor racing.

The “8” is the suffix used for all of Peugeot’s current model names, from the 208 and 2008 to the 308, 3008, 5008 and, of course, the 508 which very recently passed through the hands of the engineers and designers who crafted the Hypercar to become the first car to sport the Peugeot Sport Engineered label.

Two Peugeot 9X8s will contest the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship.

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 in backlit form at the front and on the sides of the car. The Selenium Grey and contrasting Kryptonite acid green/yellow highlights of both the body and inside the cockpit echo the color scheme chosen for the new PEUGEOT SPORT ENGINEERED line which was introduced with the 508 and 508 SW.

The designers also paid exceptional attention to the 9X8’s interior. “We wanted to take a special approach to the cockpit which, until now, has tended to be a purely functional and indistinctive aspect of racing cars, with no brand identity whatsoever,” underlines Hossann. “The combination of our color scheme and Peugeot’s i-Cockpit interior styling signature have provided the 9X8’s cockpit with a distinctive feel and make it immediately identifiable as a Peugeot in on-board camera shots.”

Outside, the sculpted wheels contribute to the balanced lines of the car’s uncluttered, sharply structured flanks, the wing vents reveal the top of the tires, and the perfectly integrated mirrors contribute to the impression that airflow passes over the car unimpeded.

“I know the teams at Peugeot Design and Peugeot Sport and they always produce quality, innovative work, but I have to admit to being blown away by the 9X8. It is simply magnificent,” says Peugeot’s Chief Executive Officer Linda Jackson. “The way its innovative, flowing lines exude such a powerful brand identity is masterful.”

The chiseled details of the Peugeot 9X8’s rear-end design include the brand’s claw-effect lighting signature, while the lights themselves flank a wide diffusor above which the quip “We didn’t want a rear wing” is written.

Rear wings were first seen at the Le Mans 24 Hours on the Chaparral 2F which contested the race in 1967, so this is the first time their use has been questioned in more than half a century. The 9X8’s innovative rear stems from research carried out by Peugeot Sport’s engineering team.

“The new Le Mans Hypercar regulations were drawn up to level out the importance of conventional performance-boosting systems,” explains Olivier Jansonnie, Peugeot Sport’s WEC Programme Technical Director. “Designing the 9X8 has been a passionate experience because we had the freedom to invent, innovate and explore off-the-wall ways to optimize the car’s performance, and more especially its aerodynamics. The regulations stipulate that only one adjustable aerodynamic device is permitted, without specifying the rear wing. Our calculation work and simulations revealed that high performance was effectively possible without one.”

“The absence of a rear wing on the Peugeot 9X8 is a major innovative step,” says Stellantis Motorsport Director Jean-Marc Finot. “We have achieved a degree of aerodynamic efficiency that allows us to do away with this feature. Don’t ask how, though! We have every intention of keeping that a secret as long as we possibly can!”

Doing away with a rear wing provided the freedom to design the sort of sleek silhouette that hasn’t been seen for decades. Indeed, working hand-in-hand with their engineer colleagues, the designers made the most of the opportunity to create a harmonious blend of dynamic, sculpted shapes which form a clean, sweeping surface between the prominent wheel arches.

Since the announcement in September 2020 of Peugeot’s involvement in endurance racing’s new Le Mans Hypercar class, the factory in Versailles, near Paris, has been working feverishly on the 9X8.

As planned, the car’s rear-mounted, 2.6-liter, bi-turbo, 500 kW (680 horsepower), V6 – the internal combustion engine (ICE) part of the Peugeot HYBRID4 500KW powertrain – has been clocking up kilometers on the bench since April.

Meanwhile, the front-mounted 200 kW motor-generator unit, seven-speed sequential gearbox, and battery are in the process of being assembled in keeping with the bench-testing validation schedule. The powerful, technologically sophisticated, high-voltage (900 volts), the high-density battery is being co-developed by Peugeot Sport and Saft, a subsidiary of TotalEnergies.

“Our target with regard to our energy requirements is flawless reliability and perfect control,” explains Jean-Marc Finot. “Le Mans has become a 24-hour sprint race that can be won or lost by the number of times you pit. The exceptional energy efficiency of the new Hypercars prefigures what we will see shortly in the world of road cars. This consideration had a fundamental influence on our work on the Peugeot 9X8 package, every aspect of which needs to contribute to achieving hyper-efficiency, from its powertrain to its aerodynamics.”

In addition to its aerodynamic, mechanical, and electronic efficiency, the new car will serve to showcase Peugeot’s extensive engineering expertise in the uncompromising world of endurance racing. The Le Mans 24 Hours is a notoriously exacting event and the 5,400 kilometers (3,355 miles) the cars covered in the course of the race is close to the distance covered in a full season of Formula 1, so efficiency and reliability are both vital.

Peugeot Sport 9X8 Hypercar Image Gallery:

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