Retro-Tastic Peugeot e-Legend Concept Beautifies Paris Motor Show

With 120 years of automotive history behind it, Peugeot is one of the oldest players in the business and the creator of some truly beautiful cars. At the end of the 1960s, the company with the lion badge teamed up with Pininfarina to design the lovely 504 Coupe, and now Peugeot is ready to unveil a modern equivalent in the shape of the e-Legend.

Debuting at next month's Paris Motor Show, the concept looks to the past to see into the future of Peugeot as the one-off is entirely electric and uses an advanced autonomous driving system. The double headlights are a nod to the coupe's source of inspiration, as is the square front fascia with a grille added just for décor since it doesn't serve an actual purpose with the concept lacking a combustion engine.

Carved into the coupe's bodywork, the wheel arches housing the 19-inch alloys not only look cool, but also serve a second purpose as the front ones incorporate an air passage to boost airflow. The piece of black trim at the bottom of the rear pillar is more than just a throwback to the 504 Coupe since it also contains a screen showing a personalized greeting as well as the charge level.

Inside, the retro theme continues as the e-Legend adopts a minimalist layout linking to the basic interiors of cars from yesteryear. The conventional controls have been replaced by a 6-inch touchscreen and a rotary knob, while to the left of the steering wheel is a digital toggle bar displaying various available commands configurable based on the driving mode.

The concept is a tech-fest, featuring 29-inch screens in the doors and 12-inch displays embedded into the sun visors. There's also a massive 49-inch curved display, and together with other screens plastered all over the cabin, the e-Legend has a total of 16 displays of different sizes.

Peugeot installed a massive 100-kWh battery pack providing enough juice for 373 miles (600 kilometers) in the new WLTP cycle. Should you be in a hurry, it only takes 25 minutes to recharge the battery enough for 311 miles (500 km) of range.

The electric setup offers a more than generous 456 horsepower (340 kilowatts) and a massive 590 pound-feet (800 Newton-meters) of torque distributed to both axles to help the e-Legend reach 62 mph (100 kph) from a standstill in less than four seconds before topping out at 137 mph (220 kph).

A production version based on the new 508 would be nice, but it's only a pipe dream as Peugeot has no plans to create a road-going equivalent of the e-Legend.