With three weeks to go until the Paris Motor Show kicks offs, Peugeot has released the first photos of its new concept car – the 208 HYbrid Air, partly equipped by Faurecia.
A compressed air-fuel hybrid vehicle, the Peugeot 208 HYbrid Air is intended as a first response to the French government’s initiative to produce a series of low consumption vehicles (2l/100km) by 2020. Drawing on its expertise in reducing vehicle weight, Faurecia is helping to lightweight the vehicle exteriors provided by the Group for this demonstration:
- Semi-structural plastic composite and fiberglass tailgate:
The semi-structural composite tailgate designed by Faurecia combines plastic with glass fiber to achieve a part that is about 20% lighter (- 2.8 kg) than a conventional steel component.
- Lean exhaust line:
Faurecia’s R&D teams have also redesigned the architecture of the exhaust line by reducing the thickness of all steel parts, shaving an average of 0.4 millimeters off the muffler pipes and casings and up to 0,6 mm from the baffles, making an overall weight reduction of 20% (1.9 kg lighter) for the entire line.
Source: Faurecia
Romain’s opinion:
Weight reduction is, with hybridization, the best mean to improve the fuel efficiency of a vehicle. In addition it can lead to some cost reduction by removing unused parts or material. It also gives better vehicle dynamics and performances. What are, according to you, the limiting factors to extreme weight reduction?
