What's all this about?
It's another weird and wonderful concept car from Peugeot, a company that has churned out some cracking show vehicles in recent years... that have never gone on to make production.
Pity. What's this one called?
The Quartz, which is an apt name as it looks like it has been chiselled out of a piece of volcanic rock. It's made of composite materials and has no B-pillar, thanks to its high torsional rigidity, which means it has showy scissor doors through which you access the cabin. Also, those wheels are 23-inch items. TWENTY. THREE. INCHES.
What's underneath that glitzy, two-tone exterior?
A plug-in hybrid powertrain featuring the 270hp 1.6-litre THP engine from the Peugeot RCZ R, and two electric motors (one per axle), giving a combined output somewhere in the region of 500hp, apparently.
Wow. And inside?
The cabin is another sci-fi wonder, featuring four individual bucket seats, actual igneous rock in the dashboard - it's made of basalt, a light and strong stone formed when magma quickly cools - and the same sort of minimalistic console found in Peugeot's road cars, called the i-Cockpit. That means you get a tiny steering wheel, too.
What's it like to drive?
No idea. Although Peugeot says it has three driving modes: full electric vehicle, in which it can cover 31 miles on a full charge without troubling the THP motor; Road, which sees the front axle electric motor and 1.6 turbo combining; and Race, which uses both electric motors and a limited-slip differential hiding away in its chassis to deliver the most exciting driving mode of the lot. Both electric motors, by the way, charge the battery under certain situations.
Any other tricks up its sleeve?
It has pneumatic suspension that automatically raises the ride height from 300- to 350mm, according to the surface you're on. It does this using on-board cameras and the satnav, which is clever.
Will Peugeot make it?
We wish. The company already has a popular C-segment crossover in the shape of the 3008, while the Quartz will be shown alongside the shark-skinned Exalt concept saloon at Paris. The likelihood of either of these two concepts making the showrooms is very, very slim, sadly. But we'd definitely be interested in a Quartz if it ever did see the light of day.
Matt Robinson - 22 Sep 2014