Peugeot in 2018 Design Project

Prepared by Dracryst Chan Fwu Shin.

In this semester, I took the subject of Project 1, a preliminary subject to Final Project of my course. We were given a choice to choose between 3 projects; A go-cart powered by 4 units of Bosch drills, a eco-makeover of any building in the university campus (without deconstructing/reconstructing it), and the NST Nasim Sdn. Bhd. and Automobiles Peugeot Design Competition. 

Majority of students chose the latter, the Peugeot Design Competition where we are required to design a Peugeot car for the year 2018 aiming at the South East Asian market. The competition requirements are simple, just design a car we deemed fitting for the theme. However, for our Project, as an engineer, we need to consider many engineering requirements to build a car. Please be ready for a lot of words.

My team, consists of Ameer, Richard and myself, decided to create a car as an alternative replacement/improvement on the current Peugeot 308, a C-segment car. For starter, we never thought of entering the competition with this car. This is just an entry for our university project. We researched on many areas, the market, income target, body shape, headlamps, tyres, overall design, and most importantly the engine and hybrid power-assist system. At the very beginning, we decided our theme to be fuel efficient. We never look into the zero (0) emission or biofuel, because we thought it is simply not possible for the year 2018 in South-East Asia.

For market study, we decided to have the car marketed at the price range of RM110k-125k, which is the price range of most hybrid electric cars, aiming at the target income of RM5k and above. To achieve this price, it would mean locally assembling it (CKD). Since ASEAN countries provide incentives for hybrid car (please refer HERE), it would be cheaper to fully import (CBU) them over from Europe. But the reason we are looking at CKD, it's because we're not taking the conventional hybrid system. It is, controversially, not that eco-friendly as its claimed to be. Plus, Nasim Sdn. Bhd. and Gaya Motor of Jakarta are able to locally assembled the Peugeot in the ASEAN region, and the price of the CKD car would be kept at a minimum through the AFTA-CEPT agreement. So that's how the car gonna be sold around the region at practically the same price.

The South-East Asia people prefers petrol over diesel, and diesel quality is not good compared to the European countries. Besides, the road tax system is based on the engine displacement and types of fuel system. Diesel engine requires higher road tax cost. These made us chose petrol engine. We considered over the PSA Peugeot Citroen and BMW engines (of which they both collaborates for engine development), but their petrol engines are not up to our expectations. After thorough research, although it is not possible, we chose the VW CAV 1.4L 16V TSI twincharged (turbo & supercharged) petrol engine. It boast 160PS of power and 240Nm of torque, with fuel economy (combined cycle) at 6L/100km. 

For the hybrid power-assist system, we used the new Flywheel KERS, of which the function can be explained HERE. It can save fuel up to 30% in real world driving, cheaper and more environmental friendly in volume production than conventional hybrid electric system. This system already been use on buses and F1, while developments in progress for Jaguar and Volvo.

On the matter of headlamps, full LED headlamp is chosen because of it's quality. It sustain vibration, requires less power and thus less fuel consumption, emit less heat and carbon dioxide while produce higher lumen than conventional halogen bulbs. The circuit board for LED rear lamp had exist for several years, while headlamp will be possible in the near future. We will be using low rolling-resistance tyres, as lower friction requires lower power and thus lower fuel consumption. On the matter of grip and mileage, it is relatively near to conventional tyres. 

For our design, we decided to have it in hatchback shape, for it provides a low drag coefficient while giving a sporty look. Low drag coefficient gives better fuel consumption as there is less air resistance. The car is based on the current Peugeot 308, so the overall size of the car doesn't vary much, and we are using back the same chassis used on the Peugeot 306, 307 and 308. I am responsible for the whole car design, from sketching to computer designing. However, I do consult my groupmates on deciding the shapes of lamps and what they want. The French are emotional and impulsive, and sometimes arrogant in the sense of perfection and details. Thus, I designed the car to be arrogant to look at, and yet still kept within the manufacturability range.

Side view

Plan view

Side view with interior positioning

I make the front shorter and sharper, as short frontal area means less drag. The C-pillar had been moved back while elongating the side windows to enhance the rear visibility at angled junctions. I added a spoiler at the end of the roof, to avoid turbulence and downforce acting on the rear extruded hatch. The wheelbase is increased by 34mm to improve rear kneeroom while the rear length increased 30mm to increase boot volume.

Front view and rear view

The track of the car is increased another 30mm to improve stability and handling. As you can see, I dumped the feline muscular design of the current Peugeot 308 for a much refined, arrogant look. I even embedded the new Peugeot design language, the concaved V-shaped on the bonnet. The shutline of the bonnet plays and important role into making the headlamps and the whole front view to be arrogant or furious. I didn't put the floating grille on the car because it is not fitting. On the rear, it is rather a quick decision for the rear lamp design. I sketched a few, my groupmate choose, and I started sketching the whole thing. The lamps were positioned higher so the butt doesn't sag.

There are actually a lot more to write, but I figure a summary will do. And believe me, this whole blog entry is short compared to what I wrote in my report, and what I researched. Before I exit, here is the isometric view of the car, with colour.

Isometric view

And oh, I almost forgot. We named the car as Peugeot Vert K-TSI. 'Vert' (pronounce as lu-where-ah), is French for 'green' while K-TSI marks the marriage of VW TSI engine with flywheel KERS technology. Au revoir!

PS: This is the hard work of my groupmates and I. We spent lots of hours, day and night in order to finish this project within the short time frame. So please do not copy this as an entry for your competition. Thank you. - Dracryst Shin.