Peugeot's diesel hybrid in two years

Peugeot will have the world's first diesel-electric hybrid production car on sale within two years, says Peugeot's director-general Jean-Philippe Collin.

Although Peugeot has previously announced its intention to make a diesel hybrid, this is the first time it's committed itself to a timeframe.

Collin was speaking at Silverstone, where Peugeot revealed a diesel-electric hybrid Le Mans racing car. It is hoped it will run in some events next year, even though it will not be able to score points under current rules.

The car has a similar brake energy regeneration system that will be fitted to Formula 1 cars next season where energy created under braking, but normally dissipated as heat, is instead stored and used to power the car for a short period further round the lap.

Collin says the principle of diesel hybrid road and race cars is largely the same. 'It is all about improving the yield of the system by recouping thermal energy. It is then just a question of how you use the energy which is stored.

'In a road car you may not want to use that energy outside the city, but it can be beneficial once you are inside the city (by making cars quieter and cleaner),' he added.

'In the 908 race car, we store the energy going into a corner and can use it coming out (to improve performance).'