Paris - Perhaps realising (quite sensibly) that there isn’t much room for large dull sedans in Peugeot’s core markets such as Europe, the French carmaker has given its 508 sedan a bold makeover that doesn’t bear even the slightest resemblance to its predecessor.
Peugeot has been through its fair share of conservative design phases, but this new D-segment ‘hatchdan’ (it’s now a five-door) returns to the bold French tradition of doing things differently with an elegant twist - with its hunkered-down, coupe-like stance, fastback profile and slim ‘claw’ tailights.
The cabin takes Peugeot’s contemporary i-Cockpit theme to even more elegant heights, and sports ‘piano-key’ controls as per the 3008, as well as a 31.2cm high-mounted digital instrument cluster and 25cm touchscreen.
The newcomer will be available with a wide range of petrol and diesel engines. Peugeot hasn’t yet gone into detail about any of them, simply stating that they produce between 96kW and 165kW.
Unfortunately Peugeot SA says there are no plans as yet to introduce the 508 to South Africa. Granted, the non-premium D-segment is all but dead in this country, but it would certainly serve as an interesting halo model if Peugeot SA ever felt the sums worked out in favour of bringing it here.