The Peugeot Oxia: a car with looks from outer space, which made its earthly debut.

In the 1980’s Peugeot was, in terms of motorsports, on a bit of a roll. The Peugeot 205 T16 Group B rally car had done extremely well in the World Rally Championship. The 405 T16 dominated in Rally raids, like Dakar and Pikes Peak. And Peugeot also managed to build the fastest race car to ever lap Le Mans, the 1988 WM P88 Peugeot.

At the 1988 Paris Motor show, Peugeot exhibited the Oxia to enhance the image of the brand and to show its motorsport successes. Like the WM P88 Le Mans race car, the Oxia was powered by a 2.8 liter mid-mounted transverse twin-turbocharged PRV V6 engine attached to a six-speed gearbox. Instead of the 900 hp of the Le Mans car, the Oxia had to work with only 670 hp, but was still able to reach a 217 mph (349 kmh) top speed at the Nardo circuit. This top speed was a surprise for Peugeot, because they only expected a top speed of 187 mph.

To reach this top speed and to create a car that was good to drive, Peugeot created a body made from Kevlar and carbon fibre combined with an aluminium structure. Besides that, the car featured an all-wheel drive and four-wheel steering system, a luxurious audio system including a cd player, two limited-slip-differentials, an adjustable spoiler, an electronic tire monitoring system and an air-conditioning system powered by solar panels to cool the interior while being parked.

Interior styling Chief Paul Bracq, as reported in Automobile magazine, compared the Peugeot Oxia concept car with exotic cars of decades past, calling it “my idea of a Delage, Delahaye, or Talbot for the 1990s.” You can conclude that the car was extremely luxurious and high-tech at the time.

Some said that the Oxia was supposed to be a rival for the Ferrari F40, the Porsche 959 and the Bugatti EB110. I think it really could have been because the Oxia really had the potential to be so. Unfortunately, the car would be too expensive to put into production and there was not enough demand for a car like the Oxia. Therefore, Peugeot stuck to two cars.

Specs:
• A top speed of 217 mph
• 670 hp at 8,200 RPM
• 535 ft-lb (720nm) of torque at 4,500 RPM
• Mid-mounted transverse PRV V6 with two Garrett turbos
• All-wheel drive and four-wheel steering
• Weight of 3,029 lbs (1,374kg)
• Only two were built for a price of 8 million Francs each.
• A length of 461 cm, a width of 202 cm and a height of 133 cm.
• The styling was entirely developed by the internal Peugeot Design Team, headed by Gerard Walter also recognized for his personal involvement in the WM P88 endurance racing cars which had raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Fun fact:

The Oxia earned its name from a spot on the planet Mars called Oxia Palus longitude 0 and latitude 0, the possible reference for Martian time.

Peugeot has always created beautiful concept cars, but this Peugeot Oxia is in my opinion one of the most amazing, brutal and most “ready for production” one.