Cars gone wild in Paris

It's tough to improve a car that won six Intercontinental Rally Challenge championships, as Peugeot's 207 Super 2000 did. But here is the 208. With Bertrand Vallat, the man who led the development of the outgoing 207, heading up the 208's development program, it stands to reason that the new 280-horsepower rally racer will be just as capable. It'll definitely stand out in the looks department, with its stubby body and sloped nose.

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The paint scheme alone — fluorescent yellow with a velvet-matte varnish — gets this odd duck on our list. Seen at auto shows in various forms since 2010, the 2008 is intended to rival the Nissan Juke, another peculiar-looking machine. The odd proportions and swooping lines of this version, however, will remain mostly unchanged until the vehicle goes into production next year.

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Along with the 2008 Concept, Peugeot brought out its Onyx trio for their debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show: the Onyx supercar, which is powered by a monster 680-horsepower diesel-electric LeMans engine; the Onyx-inspired 3-wheel Scooter, a plug-in hybrid combining an electric motor with a 400cc combustion engine; and, finally, the bicycle. Not surprisingly, none appears production-bound.

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We saw the Twizy debut as a strange little concept at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. This is the production version, which will be available for purchase before the end of 2012. The Twizy is essentially a 4-wheeled scooter that has a canopy and that seats two. It has a 60-mile range, a top speed of 47 mph and a scant 3½-hour charge time.

View Pictures:  Concept Cars in Paris

Does this convertible look familiar to you? The crew at French coachbuilder PGO hopes so; their designs draw heavily from Porsches of the past. Licensed to reproduce the classic Porsche 356 body, PGO offers modern convenience with classic style. None of this is wrong, necessarily, depending on your view. Covering the vehicle you bring to a major motor show with Swarovski crystals? That is wrong — very wrong.

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Word on the floor of the 2012 Paris Motor Show is that Honda's EV-Ster open-top electric sports car will see production possibly as soon as 2014. To maximize the 10-kWh electric powertrain, Honda is working carbon materials into the EV-Ster to make it lighter, helping it carry a range of 100 miles per charge. However, the EV-Ster is no speed demon in its current form, with a top speed of 100 mph and a zero-to-40 mph of five seconds.

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How cool is this? Spain's Comarth Toy Rider is one of our favorite rides in Paris. It is like an old-school Power Wheels truck for adults. How no one has put an electric city truck into production yet is beyond us — it just makes so much sense. The Toy Rider seats two and has a range of up to 75 miles and a top speed of 31 mph, perfect for city-dwellers who want a touch of storage space.

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If this, along with the Comarth Toy Rider, is the start of a new wave of tiny, supercool electric pickup trucks, we say bring it on. Mega's Multitruck Pickup is a bit more robust than the Comarth, with seemingly endless customization options available to the buyer.

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Among the various electric city cars looking to compete for the youth market, this joint project between French designer Courb and battery supplier Valence Technology from Texas is one of the most dynamic-looking. With a top speed of 68 mph and a range of about 125 miles, the C-Zen at least appears to offer some excitement in an otherwise horribly utilitarian-looking category.

This is one of the most absurd and giggle-inducing vehicles I have ever seen. Built for this year's Pikes Peak Hill Climb, where it placed second in the electric-vehicle category, the i-MiEV Evolution has bulbous bodywork and a high-set spoiler that makes it look like the greatest toy ever. Given the right dirt road and the right weather, it may be just that.

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James Tate cut his teeth in the business as a race team crew member before moving to the editorial side as Senior Editor of Sport Compact Car, and his work has appeared in Popular Mechanics, Automobile, Motor Trend and European Car. When not writing, Tate is usually fantasizing about a vintage Porsche 911.