Citroën Taranis Concept

tags: Citroën, Taranis Concept | in: New Designers 12 September 2011

The Citroën Taranis Concept is a futuristic two-seater off-road racer with an outboard double-jointed wheel set-up and in-wheels electric motors. The author is designer Peter Norris.

With this personal project, Peter Norris intended to create an unconventional vehicle for use in the Paris-Dakar rally.

As he explains, “starting from the initial brief the design evolved into something slightly different and I took it a bit further than my last two concepts (the Pininfarina Coupe and the Honda Chopper motorcycle)”.

The Taranis is powered by electric motors located within each wheel hub (similar to one of Norris’s other recent designs, the Honda Chopper), which contributes to lowering its center of gravity.

With its large outboard double-jointed wheel set-up, the Taranis has a huge footprint, resulting in an intimidating presence and generous travel in the suspension.

“The double-jointed front swingarms also help to reduce what would otherwise be an enormous turning circle.”

“A luxury finish combined with a unique layout sets this off-roader apart from other concepts, with gullwing doors adding a final touch of flair.”

Finally, Pete decided to build a studio background in which to render it to give it a more realistic feel.

The name Taranis is taken from the Celtic God of Thunder or wheel-god, often depicted with a thunderbolt in one hand and a wheel in the other.

About the Designer

Peter Norris is a 35 year-old designer from Rochester in Kent, UK. He studied transport design at Coventry University and then entered the entertainment industry.

Among his experiences are a seven years-period at Nottingham-based Free Radical Design, where he created virtual vehicles for videogames such as Timesplitters 2 and Star Wars: Battlefront III.

He has also worked at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (PlayStation) in London and at mobile games company Ideaworks 3d, where he was involved in the creation of several of driving games.

He is currently planning to expand his portfolio to the film/television industry.