Just because: The gorgeous Peugeot SR1

Gorgeous. Now there’s a word you don’t often hear in the same sentence as Peugeot. Oh sure, the plucky French carmaker has had its moments – 1997′s Pininfarina-styled 406 coupe springs to mind – but on the whole we tend to associate Peugeot with accomplished hot hatches not inspired design.

Well, just because we stumbled across it on Autocar today, we thought we’d bring you some photos of their latest concept car: the SR1.

Now, we’re not ones to throw superlatives around willy nilly. But this gorgeous – yes, gorgeous – hybrid three-seat roadster concept points to a very appealing new direction for Peugeot and we’re not going to be shy about saying so!

Like so many concepts cars these days, the SR1 is likely to make it into production eventually. Let’s hope that when it does it’s as near to this version as possible.

Peugeot is in the throws of a large-scale initiative to enhance its brand image during this, its 200th anniversary as a company.

The fact that it’s a hybrid is neither here nor there – nowadays, it seems every concept car is a hybrid. No, what we really like is the elegant styling. It retains many classic Peugeot styling cues – the headlights in conjure up the Peugeot lion to us – yet actually pushes things forwards (something too few cars manage to pull of these days.)

As Autocar points out, it’s the SR1’s proportions and major exterior design features that really matter for the future of all Peugeots. Jean-Pierre Ploue, the group’s design director says that

the precise shape and restrained size of the countersunk grille, the graceful proportions, the new sense of lightness of the car’s flanks, and the more sharply defined and simpler surfaces are what you’ll see on tomorrow’s Peugeots.

Well done to Ploue and his team. This is a beautiful, forward-thinking car.

To read the full story, head on over to Autocar.