Peugeot 308 R HYbrid Concept is a Hot Hatch Gone Thermonuclear [w/ Video]

Peugeot has built more than a few magnifique hot hatches over the last 30 years or so, most of which wearing either the GTI or Rallye suffixes. But the company, which has seen more than its share of changes occur in the 126 years since it built its first automobile (a steam-powered three-wheeler), can see the writing on the wall: Downsized forced-induction engines and electrification are the wave of the (near term) future, particularly for performance cars. And Peugeot has a pumped-up plug-in hybrid concept that, while not as fast or sexy as the 918 Spyders and LaFerraris of the world, is still an absolute scream.

The Peugeot 308 R HYbrid Concept, as it’s officially called, is, not surprisingly, based on your garden variety 308 5-door hatchback, a car that does battle with the likes of the Golf, Focus, Astra and other C-segment cars for sales supremacy in Europe and many other locales not named United States of America. Under its hood you’ll find a turbocharged 1.6L inline-four that drives the front wheels; coupled to that engine, you will find an electric motor to provide some additional pep, while a second electric motor serves as the spinner of the rear wheels. Peugeot says total drivetrain output is 493 horsepower and 538 lb.-ft of torque, which is supposedly sufficient to blast it to 62 mph from a dead stop in four seconds flat; on the flip side, the 308 R HYbrid Concept also features an all-electric setting among its multiple drive modes, and it exhales just 70 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled.

At the moment, there are no plans to put this extreme econobox into production. And that’s a shame, because how can you not love the idea of trolling BMW M and Mercedes-AMG owners with a freaking family hatchback one day and running errands on nothing but electrons the next?

Source: Peugeot