French automaker Peugeot is in the midst of a design transition, having recently appointed a new design director Gilles Vidal and now revealing the SR1 hard-top convertible. Peugeot claims that its striking concept car reveals the stylistic design trends for its future models, and to top it all off it even features a new take on the automaker’s Lion badge,

The SR1 concept also features the latest iteration of Peugeot’s HYbrid4 powertrain technology. First revealed last year, the HYbrid4 powertrain uses an electric motor to drive one axle and an internal combustion engine to drive the other, in essence forming an all-wheel drive system.

In the case of the SR1, the HYbrid4 powertrain consists of a 1.6-liter gasoline engine rated at 218-horsepower driving the front axle and a 95-horsepower electric motor driving the rear. The end result is a healthy 313-horsepower and a fuel-economy of 48 mpg. The first production application of the HYbrid4 powertrain will be introduced next year in Europe in the 2011 Peugeot 3008 crossover, which you can read about by clicking here.

The Peugeot SR1 will make its official debut in March at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.

[Peugeot]