Under design guru Gilles Vidal, Peugeot is starting to show off its an adventurous maturity, as seen in the HX1 six-seat concept revealed today at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Funk Flex

Powered by the Peugeot’s through-the-road HYbrid4 technology and using a 2.2-liter HDi diesel instead of the automaker’s 2.0-liter oil burner, the HX1 combines good power – 299 bhp – with astonishingly low fuel consumption of 73.5 miles per gallon equivalent (U.S.) and CO2 emissions of only 83 grams per kilometer. And with its plug-in capability, Peugeot says the HX1 features a useful electric-only range of 18.6 miles.

Design-wise, the HX1 concept features a windscreen pulled so far to the front that it’s more “cab-in-the-next-country” than “cab forward.” Add in a quartet of unusual scissor doors and the HX1 takes most elements that make up a typical MPV and, well, reinvents them.

What’s truly ingenious in the HX1 are its second-row seats, which literally pull right out of the back side of the front seats.

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