18 March 2022
The Peugeot 205 was first seen by the world on 25 February 1983. Its appearance was fortuitous; Peugeot was close to bankruptcy due to poor management, a below-average model range, and worldwide poor trading conditions.
The 205 provided a much-needed ray of light with newfound enthusiasm. As a part of its revival, Peugeot embarked on a high profile attack on the World Rally Championship with an iteration of the 205: the mid-engined four-wheel-drive T16.
Peugeot then decided to produce a concept for their success, the Quasar. Peugeot enlisted two well-respected designers; Gerard Welter was responsible for the exterior and Paul Bracq’s, the interior at the Peugeot Styling Centre in La Garenne, Paris.
The futuristic two-seater named after an astronomical phenomenon, the accretion of matter into supermassive black holes, creates the most luminous, powerful, and energetic objects known in the universe.
The Peugeot Quasar debuted at the 1984 Paris Motor Show, a mechanical twin of the French 205 T16 rally car. The Quasar’s mid-mounted engine was a 1775cc 16-valve twin-turbo four-cylinder that provided 600 hp to all four wheels via a five-speed manual gearbox.
Evidently, the suspension was F1-grade, and its 16-inch centre-lock alloys rims shod with Michelin MXX tyres.
Carbon Fibre and Kevlar were used to build the bodywork.
The Peugeot Quasar was everything great about the eighties in one car.