The jaw-dropping PEUGEOT entry for the forthcoming Dakar event--the 2008 DKR

June 4, 2014: PEUGEOT’s entrant into next year’s Dakar race is displayed at Goodwood – a European debut The stand’s mezzanine is being themed to reflect the recent exhibits of the PEUGEOT Design Lab Are you sitting down? The PDL Sofa is exclusively available to purchase for €135,000.

The jaw-dropping PEUGEOT entry for the forthcoming Dakar event – the 2008 DKR – is having its European debut on the PEUGEOT stand at the Goodwood Festival of Speed (26th - 29th June) following its reveal at the Beijing Motor Show in April. 2008 DKR is the PEUGEOT entry for the challenging endurance race in 2015.

ANOTHER EXCITING CHALLENGE FOR PEUGEOT: DAKAR COMEBACK IN 2015! After their extraordinary adventure in 2013, which saw them smash the record for the celebrated Pikes Peak Hill Climb, PEUGEOT Sport, Red Bull and Total have again joined forces for another exacting yet equally exciting challenge: the Dakar. To take on the 10,000kms of the world’s longest and toughest cross-country rally, 25 years after the French car manufacturer last contested the event, the team has recruited Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres.

Following last year’s intense adventure in the lofty mountains of Colorado, USA, Peugeot Sport, Red Bull and Total have decided to set their sights on the wide open spaces of South America which provide the backdrop for the toughest cross-country rally of them all. Inevitably, the decision recalls a particularly successful period in the history of the French team which made an indelible mark on the Dakar by winning the legendary competition four years running from 1987 until 1990, first with the 205 T16 Grand Raid, then with the equally iconic 405 T16 Grand Raid.

In between times, the Dakar has traded the dunes of northwest Africa for the tracks and trails of Latin America which are every bit as punishing for competitors and their machines. It is here, a quarter of a century after its last participation, that Team PEUGEOT Total will take on its next challenge with a new car, the 2008 DKR. After last June’s 20-kilomretre asphalt sprint, it’s a two-week 10,000kms marathon that will put PEUGEOT Sport’s all-round skills to the test in January 2015.

The Dakar will naturally be the chief focus of PEUGEOT’s new, multi-year programme which will also include a certain number of other events in order to help it to prepare for the annual South American marathon. The team’s driver line-up stars the 2010 Dakar victor Carlos Sainz, who brings his extensive experience and car-development skills to the table, as well as the event’s five-time winner on two wheels, Cyril Despres, who has chosen Peugeot to kick off a new career on four wheels.

The mezzanine space of the PEUGEOT stand at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is themed to showcase the latest products conceived by the PEUGEOT Design Lab that were debuted at the Milan Design Week in April. The most prominent exhibit is the ONYX Sofa - a stunning sculpted seat constructed from hand-crafted Volvic volcanic lava stone seamlessly joined with hi-tech carbon fibre that is being made available for sale – at €135,000.

On show are a number of valued exhibits from the PEUGEOT Design Lab displayed alongside the unique ONYX Sofa that include sculptures and a set of Mill Concepts (Herb, Coffee and Salt & Pepper), in homage to the Brand’s industrial past.

The ONYX Sofa - a perfect demonstration of a made-to-measure furnishing concept – is also the first illustration of a series of planned unique pieces of furniture, made to measure, to suit the choice, origin and personality of the customer, but which always respects a common idea: the union, via a pronounced clear cut separation line, between hyper-technological materials – carbon fibre, glass fibre, aluminium and raw and natural materials - rock, wood, stone.

The ONYX Sofa is a three-metre long seat made of carbon fibre and Volvic volcanic lava stone. Separated by means of a sharp straight cut, Volvic stone has spent thousands of years filtering the water, before being hand carved and married to hi-tech carbon fibre with its very structured and technical texture, its shapes precisely adjusted to the volcanic stone.

It took 70 days to produce the ONYX Sofa from carbon fibre and Volvic volcanic rock and the €135,000 price reflects its design excellence, high-quality of materials and the time and care taken to construct it. Collection Made to measure - unique model of a 4 seat sofa Dimensions Length 328cm x Depth 82cm x Height 90cm Weight 534kg Finish Carbon Fibre and Volvic volcanic lava stone

The ONYX Sofa is intended as a statement in pure form and materials and takes its inspiration from the 2012 ONYX trio of superbike, supertrike and supercar.

The ONYX Supercar was powered by a 600bhp hybrid powertrain; yet just as memorable was its innovative bodywork made from carbon fibre combined with copper and its cabin of felt and newspaper-derived wood. The ONYX sofa has been designed as a static partner and has been built reflecting the same design ethics and style identity as a made-to-measure furnishing concept.

Multiple additional sculptures Customers of PEUGEOT Design Lab furniture are free to choose their object and their materials. Each piece will then be a unique creation, guided by the essence of the raw material. To demonstrate this, the ONYX Sofa will be accompanied at the Goodwood Festival of Speed by multiple sculptures. These will include lamps, shelves, armchairs and tables: designs that explore other alliances of materials, marrying obsidian with concrete, red ferrous jasper and steel, quartz crystal and aluminium, sculpted wood and 3D printing, black palm plus basalt and marsh oak and Corian.

PEUGEOT Design Director, Gilles Vidal, said: “We are making a link between the ONYX Concept Supercar, a combination of efficiency plus audacious, natural materials, and the ONYX Sofa. By using a sharp straight cut in the rock, this contrast in materials is powerful, voluntary and assumed in the way we look at the materials and how they are used. The carbon fibre with its very structured and technical texture has had its shape sculpted precisely to the volcanic stone with its texture and fault lines. While it’s been perfectly adjusted in dimensions and proportions it still follows the natural form and has an acceptance of not being in control of such a powerful natural material as shown by the stone mason’s random chisel marks.”

Head of PEUGEOT Design Lab, Cathal Loughnane, commented: “This project was started in May 2013. From the beginning we had a very raw, very powerful sketch. The ONYX Sofa is an illustration of a new concept that we intend to explore: unique pieces of furniture that are made to measure to suit the choice, origin and personality of the customer. However, they must always follow a common theme: the union, via a pronounced, clear cut, between hyper-technological materials such as carbon fibre, glass fibre, aluminium and raw and natural materials like rock, wood and stone.

“In a world where technology changes products very quickly, where people grow tired of things very quickly, we want to offer technological furniture that remains respectful of nature’s materials and the ancestral craftsman’s skills, a balanced marriage between performance and responsibility.”

PEUGEOT DESIGN LAB Launched in Paris on 12th June 2012, the PEUGEOT Design Lab was actually created in 2010 on the occasion of the Brand’s Bicentennial. The PEUGEOT Design Lab was conceived to take advantage of a wealth of knowledge and experience that comes from over 200 years of industrial creation and 125 years of automobile manufacturing.

Working as a global brand design studio, its objective is to employ the considerable and wide-ranging expertise and facilities at its disposal. This will enable it to develop strong and coherent brand strategies and identities and design products for external clients from any non-automotive sector.

Currently it comprises 10 designers but it is in the unique position of being able to draw on the skills and experience of 6000 engineers from within PSA Group. It is headed up by Cathal Loughnane, an Irishman who has spent 10 years working in interior and concept car designs for the PSA Group.

PEUGEOT Design Lab PEUGEOT Design Director, Gilles Vidal said: “PEUGEOT is one of the rare brands in the world able to claim over 200 years of industrial creativity. Since its beginnings, PEUGEOT has designed and manufactured thousands of objects, whether for domestic and daily use, or to provide mobility: objects for the kitchen, or tools, bicycles, motorcycles, cars… All of these are evidence of our multi-faceted industrial know-how and our ability to use new forms to aid function.”

Head of PEUGEOT Design Lab, Cathal Loughnane, commented: “Working in the car industry means we have the knowledge of mass production and the knowledge of one-offs with concept cars. Car designers are also trained to absorb the DNA of a company and reproduce that. This places us perfectly to work for companies outside the car industry as well as providing a service of made to order furniture. From a designer’s point of view, working on different things like this can help you discover new things: creatively it brings a lot of flexibility."

The PEUGEOT Design Lab piano for PLEYEL The PEUGEOT Design Lab’s revolutionary piano was its first product and the result of collaboration between two 200-year old companies, PEUGEOT and Pleyel, the body and soundboard of the piano are made of wood, the lid and leg from carbon fibre. Development took years of research, study and testing in order to meet the objective of retaining the unique high quality Pleyel sound which is subtle, colourful, powerful in bass and scintillating in treble. The Pleyel Piano is an exclusive, high-end item, available to order, with a few already sold to the elite.

PEUGEOT is renowned for designing stylish products since its formation in 1810 It is worth remembering how much PEUGEOT has made its mark in many domains over two centuries of industrial design and creation.

Mills: It is estimated that tens of millions of mills for grinding salt, pepper and coffee were made in over a century. Since 1840 there have been more than 100 models in wood, steel, iron, Bakelite, wall mounted and electric powered. Taking account of the various sizes and variants, more than 900 different mills have been made by PEUGEOT Frères. These mills ‑ still made today ‑ are exported throughout the world and remain a benchmark for their durability and the precision of their ‘Guaranteed for Life’ mechanism.

Tools: In 1810 PEUGEOT made its first tool, a saw blade using high quality laminated steel. The range of tools expanded year by year to include laminated blades, forged tools, cutting tools and agricultural tools. Mechanised and electric tools followed. The nineteenth century toolbox, exhibited at the Milan Design Week in April, was an example of the expertise and the diverse range of tools produced by PEUGEOT Frères.

Peugimix 1955: Produced in the kitchen equipment department of PEUGEOT’s Audincourt factory, this food mixer was constantly improved over its years in production. Its three models could be used to grind, mix, grate, chop or press fruit for multiple culinary uses.

Aviation: PEUGEOT took an interest in aviation early on. In 1905, a first 14hp V-twin engine was developed to power the Santos-Dumont No. 14 airship. Four years later, PEUGEOT Frères committed to manufacturing and selling engines for aeronautical use and, along with Automobiles Rossel from Sochaux, formed the Société des Constructions Aériennes Rossel-PEUGEOT in November 1909. This company developed the renowned 50hp seven-cylinder radial engine that would be fitted to a Blériot aeroplane.

PEUGEOT has also had huge success with businesses producing cycles, scooters, motorcycles and motor vehicles – the automotive division celebrates 125 years of production in 2014.