One concept that didn’t make it to Detroit, for the very good reason that Peugeot’s are no longer sold Stateside, was the SR1. Timed to be shown within a couple of weeks of the company announcing Gilles Vidal as their new design boss with bold ambitions, Peugeot are keen to emulate their sister-company Citroen’s recent reinvention.

Citroen has the slightly richer heritage of classics such as the DS, SM, Light15 and CX to reference, while Peugeot has a somewhat patchier history; many years ago their 402 was a technological tour de force, while there were plenty of durable and reliable plodders in between; it’s not until Pininfarina worked with them to offer flashes of brilliance with the 504 coupe,

and of course the sweet 205.

Though I do have a distinct soft-spot for the presidential 604…

Elements of the SR1 have been likened to Aston-Martin and Maserati…not bad points of reference..

Interior has a ‘hewn-from-solid’ look, technical-grained wood and cockpit references…

Clever soft-top hood sculpted to look like a proper metal roof…

Elements of an exo-skeletal theme at the mirror base and  lower fender, where the surface has been ‘hollowed out’ – breaks up the expanse of surface, and lightens the car…

So the SR1 is a concept, with no reference to a future production model. Apparently. It probably will have influenced the forthcoming D-segment 408 to an extent. The good news is that it looks like Peugeot are responding to the clamour of criticism of their current cars. Sure, the 207 sells in big numbers, and Peugeot can justifiably be proud that they bought the affordable convertible hard-top to market with the 206CC, in many ways a game-changing car. But the fact is that they’ve lost their credibility of late, and are looking somewhat staid next to their ‘creative-technologie’ masters Citroen, and hot-hatch kings Renault. I like the SR1, it has a leanness and a sophisticated aggression that’s missing from the current slightly frumpy Pugs. Peugeot’s used to have a certain sauve refinement to them, a definite place next to their eccentric and innovative Citroen cousins, and their more overtly sporting rivals Renaults, and I think Vidal has captured elements of that here – let’s hope the transition from design study to production is a successful one…

Detroit NAIAS started today with surprisingly few new debuts. Major deal is the new Ford Focus. Not due for official launch for another year, Ford is keen to play its hand early and is clearly indicating that the new wave of competition from Golf, Astra et al hasn’t passed it by.

There’s a real impression of movement in the Focus’s profile with some novel touches, like the distinctly flared wheelarches, nicely integrated fuel-filler flap flowing out of the rear lamps, and aggressively kicked-up chromed beltline.

It’s amazing how close the Focus silhouette is to the new GM Astra and Renault Megane. There are distinct detail differences though, that effectively portray each manufacturers aspirations for each car. The Astra has softer, more flowing surfacing. It’s a calm-looking car with premium pretensions, much less aggressive than the Focus, but still with a vaguely muscular rear-end and shorter overhangs;

The Megane has simpler surfacing, with a less harmonious hood/wheelarch relationship, and some less-premium materials – reflecting the Renault’s more utilitarian roots;

Ford have talked openly about looking towards a new design language after the successful ‘kinetic’ era, and it’s clear that the Focus shows elements of ‘uber’-kinetics..the ultimate example of a quite busy surfacing style before a new design direction is kicked off…the most overt kinetic feature being the sculpting along its flanks. I think this ‘Z’ element works well, particularly so on the 4-dr sedan version. I’d go as far to say that the 4-dr is the better-looking of the two;

Inside there’s a technical flavour, and it’s quite dark…;

While this is a massive improvement over the current fake-metal interior there’s a couple of things that I’m not convinced by. First are the air-vents; the horizontal layout is a departure for Ford, and that’s cool, but they’re all a different shape and appear to feature a wheel feature to open and close them..overcomplicated? check. There’s also some dubious ergonomics behind the gearshift, where the HVAC controls nestle. Ford have often been criticised for their below-par interior execution, and this is a massive improvement. It looks busy though, and without being sexist, I can’t help thinking that the dark technical finish, with lashings of piano-black, might put off the odd female buyer.

Still, Ford have raised their game with the Focus. Time will tell whether they’ll regret showing the car a full year before launch, but I have a feeling that by the time it goes on sale they’ll have been enough previews, first-drives, and exclusives that it’ll be an instant best-seller.

Images courtesy of netcarshow.com