Sometimes your wallet won’t stretch to purchasing your dream motor. But don’t worry too much, there are some cars that even the biggest bank balances can’t buy, the dream cars that will forever remain a dream. These are the concept cars that never go into production.

Peugeot Onyx
The French manufacturer certainly made headlines when they unveiled the Onyx at the Paris Motor Show in 2012, and for a car with an interior made from recycled newspapers maybe that should come as no surprise.

While many of the concepts covered in CarSupermarket’s weekly feature are the figment of a designer’s imagination, there are some that do actually get fitted with engines and a few more which have the tiniest possibility of actually going into production, which technically might discount them from featuring on this very page.

The Onyx is one of those such cars, with its own page on the Peugeot official website, it is described as a ‘dream turned into reality, a 21st century supercar designed for admirers of high performance.’

So what would we get if this car ever made it to the production line? How about a 3.7 V8 HDi FAP HYBrid4 Engine, delivering 600hhp, which for a vehicle which weighs a spritely 1,100kg is kicking out just 2kg of weight for each horse power. Speak to technicians of supercars from Ferrari and Lamborghini and they will tell you that is a very impressive statistic. This light weight is achieved via what is described as a Monolithic carbon frame, comprised of 12 sections .

The interior of the Onyx does not disappoint either, that recycled newspaper has a name ‘Newspaper Wood’ and if you look closely you can actually read the existing print. Sitting in the Onyx’s ‘tub design’ you are actually not in a seat so much as an indentation in the floor, which may mean that the pedals and steering wheel will need to be adjustable. The cockpit was made of compressed and stretched felt, with a layer of foam lying on the tub, making the car soundproof.

As mentioned earlier, this is a car which came with a real engine, and that allowed the lucky few to actually experience a drive inside the Onyx. The Top Gear team reviewed it back in 2012 and said: It’s obvious that the Onyx will only ever be a concept. But maybe that doesn’t matter. Maybe, for once, it’s OK for us not to be locked in reality. Because ultimately, the Onyx helps to prove that Peugeot is thinking big and building some confidence. You’ll probably already have read elsewhere in this issue how good the 208 GTi is, but a viable carmaker needs to build good cars across the range, halo concepts included. The Onyx might not be overly realistic, but it is exciting. It’s the right kind of confident concept: it looks cool, and it goes brilliantly. And that’s what Peugeot needs - reality and aspiration. Now all it has to do is translate the Onyx attitude into its road cars.”

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