While Peugeot is showcasing the "crude steel" Exalt concept car at the Beijing Auto Show, its motorsport division is releasing the details on the 2008 DKR, the company’s first vehicle to take on the grueling Dakar Rally in 25 years.
The French manufacturer retired from the said rally in 1990, after winning it four times in a row with desert-prepped versions of the 205 supermini and 405 sedan. Now, nearly a year after Sebastien Loeb crushed the Pikes Peak record in an all-carbon version of the 208, Peugeot is announcing its return to Dakar with a vehicle based on the 2008 crossover.
Actually, we need to rephrase that to "loosely based on" the road-going vehicle, as the 2008 DKR has very little in common with the said crossover, save for the numeric name and a few design cues.
To be fielded under the colors of Team Peugeot Total in the 2015 Dakar, which is scheduled to begin next January, the 2008 DKR buggy will be driven by Carlos Sainz and Cyril Despres. Both have already won the rally, but while Sainz did it while driving a Volkswagen Touareg-based racer, Despres won the even riding KTM motorcycles.
Click past the jump to read more about the 2014 Peugeot 2008 DKR.
Peugeot 2008 DKR originally appeared on topspeed.com on Monday, 21 April 2014 20:00 EST.
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