– Peugeot has laid its cards on the table for the 2026 FIA WEC season. At the official presentation in Paris, the French manufacturer not only revealed a radically new look for the 9X8 but also reinforced its claim to finally attack at the top after disappointing previous years.
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Visually, Peugeot is once again going its own way. Although the 9X8 has long since grown a rear wing, the Lions surprised with a completely new design for the 2026 WEC season.
The new “zebra look” in black and white is far more than just a graphic experiment. According to design chief Matthias Hossann, there is a deeper meaning behind the pattern: the distortion of the brand’s signature three claws is intended to suggest dynamism and speed, even when the car is stationary.
In addition, the color scheme is a tribute to the digital era of motorsport. The black and white symbolically represents the ones and zeros of binary code and thus the enormous importance of data analysis. Meanwhile, a small splash of red builds a bridge to road tradition: 2026 is set to be the year of the GTI at Peugeot.
“If you look at all generations of the 9X8, we started [in 2022 and 2023] with Selenium Grey. After that, we had [from the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans] the so-called Demski, which was almost a work of art. Then came the lion design [in 2024 and 2025], and now this year this one,” says Hossann.
“In fact, it is more than just a livery. For me, it is almost a work of art. In my opinion, the goal of a successful vehicle design is to exist, to be visually present, to leave a strong visual impression. And I think we have created something strong and unique there.”
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“Now we have to deliver”: Favey expects first victory
Of course, design doesn’t win trophies or world championship titles. Sportingly, Peugeot looks back on difficult years. In 2025, Peugeot (here the major analysis of the 2025 performance) only reached seventh place in the manufacturers’ standings, followed only by debutant Aston Martin.
Long-term hope rests on further development jokers, but in the short term, a better BoP system in combination with the likely introduced success ballast must help the Lions. The reasons are well known; the 9X8 was built in its basic concept for a completely different set of regulations.
All the more astonishing is the statement from CEO Alain Favey. He is convinced that the first victory is within the realm of possibility: “We were very competitive at the end of last year. A victory would have been possible as early as 2025, and I think that also applies to this year,” he says at the presentation of the design.
The new team principal Emmanuel Esnault follows the same line but at the same time calls for operational perfection. When asked what would make 2026 a successful season, he explained: “If we don’t lose opportunities through suboptimal decisions. If we exploit the maximum performance potential of the car.”
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To this end, Peugeot wants to focus on further set-up optimizations before the longed-for additional jokers could be used in the future: “So these are technical solutions that I will not disclose, as we will be testing them in the coming days. We first have to see if they work. Whether they deliver performance. And whether they are reliable enough to be used in the race.”
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