Peugeot’s Hypersquare steering wheel looks radical – but I’m not sure I want one
Tablet-style interaction from the driver's seat looks set for 2026 launch
I remember being wowed by the stunning Peugeot Inception concept car at 2023’s CES show – and scratching my head once I got a glimpse at the unorthodox interior. Its dashboard-and-steering wheel combo was unlike anything I’ve ever driven. But far from being a wacky, concept-only creation, the Hypersquare steering wheel is creeping closer to production.
Instead of a centre console peppered with buttons, or even a central touchscreen, the Hypersquare setup (which is really more of a rectangle) envisions a tablet-style layout to control in-car functions. The driver runs their thumbs around the four circles to adjust the air conditioning, driver aids or entertainment volume, with the various settings shown as pictograms on the wheel’s central display.
“The four rings will allow you to control all of the information inside your car,” enthuses Peugeot’s Design Director Matthias Hossann. “It is a new experience… inspired by the gaming industry.” Even for a generation trained on Xbox and PlayStation controllers, it sounds like you’ll need particularly dextrous thumbs just to change radio station or pick a sat-nav destination.
It won’t matter if you’re mid-manoeuvre, either. A steer-by-wire system means there’s much less turning involved than traditional steering. “It’s super different and so much easier than the older, more physical way mechanical steering has been,” Hossann explained to me.
Having driven the steer-by-wire Lexus 450e, which was fitted with a yoke-style steering wheel, I can certainly vouch for the fact that it offers a very different experience. But is the non-motoring journalist public ready for such a thing? “It takes people a little while to get used to it, but at low speed it is really convenient for manoeuvring. People get used to it quite quickly.”
The concept car has been on display at VivaTech 2024, the annual tech and innovation-fest held in Paris and it certainly attracted plenty of attention. According to Hossann, though, it could be in showrooms as early as 2026.
“Peugeot Inception is a concept car,” he says, pointing at the low-slung futuristic vision in the booth next to us. “We’ll never see a car like that in the street. But, the wheel system will arrive in a mass-market production car in 2026. I can’t tell you which car it will be just yet. It will not be a niche car though, more, a car for everybody.”
A quick look at Peugeot’s model cycle could give the game away; both the 208 supermini and 2008 compact crossover are due a new model generation that year. Those cars were among the first to get Peugeot’s (at the time) radical i-cockpit setup, with its tiny, go-kart-like steering wheel and digital dashboard display – so it wouldn’t come as a shock for their replacements to debut something even more dramatic such as the Hypersquare concept.
“When we develop a car there is, of course, regulation everywhere,” he says, noting the many hurdles Peugeot will need to get past before bringing the Hypersquare system to market. “It is a big challenge to implement this into the car.”
“Peugeot is not a premium brand, so we need to be able to implement a system like this in a car that everybody can buy and the car can still be profitable. At the end of the day, as designers, we’re always being challenged to produce cars that can be profitable. It’s a fine balance to get that right when we’re developing a car.”
Even i-cockpit naysayers have to admit it’s been very successful for Peugeot. I’ll want to try a Hypersquare steering wheel on the road before judging it too harshly, but there’s no question it’s a very different way of controlling your car’s functions.
“My job as a designer is to ensure that we deliver a unique Peugeot experience, which is a challenge,” adds Hossann underlining that, given the four new electric platforms he has at his disposal, it’s never been a more exciting time to be a car designer after years of being limited by ICE models.
“For me, we are still in a period of transition. But, for Peugeot, the real benefit is what we can now do with the interior. There is more room, but we’ve also got new, sustainable materials to use. It’s a very exciting time.”
Rob Clymo
