Peugeot has applied its design skills to a helicopter, which will be on show at the Dubai Airshow from the 8th to the 12th of November 2015.
The Peugeot Design Lab was given the chance to design the all-new H160 civil helicopter after it won an in-house competition setup by Airbus to ‘get outside influences and to create a new benchmark with regard to helicopter style’.
Peugeot Design Lab drew up the initial plans for the helicopter, which Airbus then ‘adapted, developed and finalised’. This included the helicopter’s tapered windows and a revamp of the ‘iconic nose’ seen on the H160’s predecessor, the Dauphin.
Other innovations include an airframe made from composite materials, a bi-plane stabiliser, canted tail rotor and Blue Edge blades.
Airbus Helicopters head of style and design Guillaume Chielens said: “We used the initial styling developed by Peugeot Design Lab to define a strong personality for the rotorcraft – a mirror reflection of the innovation, performance and emotion unique to the H160.
“We developed a helicopter based on their design which immediately caught the attention of both operators and the general public. Style has become a key priority for the H160 programme, which aims to make a strong impression both with its unique personality and its performance.”
It may seem like a strange move but Honda is another car manufacturer that used its design expertise to create a private jet.
Let’s also remember Peugeot has been designing just about every object you can think of since it began in 1810 (1810 the year, not the 24-hour time), including forays into milling, coffee grinders, salt and pepper dispensers and even bicycles.
These days it’s more concerned with releasing fun-to-drive cars, with the 308 GTI, 208 GTI and RCZ R the most recent and a nod to the past classic and petrolhead favourite that is the 205 GTI, which launched in 1984.
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