Peugeot puts his small car 208 new, but remains true to the previous name. Progress is under the hood: The new is from the beginning also available as an E-model.
At the Geneva Motor Show (7 until 17, March), Peugeot will present the new edition of the 208. While the name of the small car remains, technically everything is new. And when the small car hits the dealer in the fall, customers have the choice between classic internal combustion engines and electric drive.
This is made possible by the new CMP platform, which can be combined with gasoline engines, diesel engines and electric motors alike. Citroën's fine sister DS has already proved that this works, the DS3 Crossback uses the same substructure and has also been available in an electric version since last year. The e-208 is also based on its technical data: the energy is stored in a battery with 50 kWh capacity, the drive is powered by an 100 kW / 136 PS electric motor and impressive 260 Newton meters of torque. This should allow the little Stromer to speed up to 8,1 in 100 seconds, ideally traveling 340 kilometers (according to WLTP). The battery is charged in 16,5 hours at the household socket, on a wallbox with 11 kW charging power, it takes a good five hours. Exemplary: If you stop on the way to an 100 kW fast charging station, you can fill up the battery in 30 minutes to 80 percent.
Since the electricity is stored in the floor of the vehicle, the e-208 also has 270 liters of luggage space available as with the combustion engine variants. It hardly differs from them visually: only if you look closely you will discover that the radiator grille is painted in the body color and that the lion logo changes color depending on your perspective. Overall, the new edition looks significantly sportier, which is mainly due to the slightly longer hood. The Peugeot designers can understand that one or the other might mistake the 208 for the Audi A1. Typical of the brand are the three LED claws as daytime running lights and the black cover between the three-part rear lights, which the small car copied from its larger brothers. If you like, you can also order the roof in black and create a contrast to the rest of the body.
Inside, the 208 comes up with the latest generation of the now Peugeot-typical i-cockpit. What remains is the small, handy steering wheel. The instrument cluster, however, slips a little higher in the 208 and works with 3D technology: Thus, important notes optically closer to the driver display, while other ads are somewhat in the background. Peugeot wants to find out that this arrangement alone increases the response time by up to half a second. Depending on the equipment, Peugeot has three touchscreens ready for use, with five, seven or ten inch screen diagonals in the center console; but there are still a few keys for the most important functions. Smartphones can be connected in 208 via Mirrorlink, Android Auto or Apple Carplay and refueled in the optional, inductive charging cradle. In addition, up to four USB ports are available, one of them according to the latest USB-C standard.
Although the 208 has grown by seven centimeters to just over four meters, the inside is still very tight. Above all, the back seat of the French, who is only available as a five-door car, is better used as a storage space than for passenger transport. Large drivers, on the other hand, sit comfortably, provided that they manage to wind their way around the steering wheel, which is relatively deep even in the top locking position. A sensible extra: the parking assistant, which steers, accelerates and brakes - the view to the rear, like many dynamically drawn cars, is also very limited in the 208. In addition to the parking system, there are numerous other assistants available for the small car, from cruise control to lane departure warning, from emergency braking to traffic sign recognition. Series, however, should hardly be anything of that.
Peugeot does not say anything about the prices themselves, but the e-208, which is manufactured together with the conventional model in Slovakia, will hardly be available under 25.000 Euro. The gasoline entry level version is expected to start at around 16.000 Euro, as currently expected. The exact range of engines is also not yet known, but all burners are likely to be available, which are also available in DS3 Crossback. There you have the choice between three three-cylinder petrol versions (74 kW / 100 PS to 114 kW / 155 PS) and a diesel with four cylinders and 74 kW / 100 PS or 96 kW / 130 PS. That it will give the diesel in 208, is clear, and the eight-speed automatic torque converter for the more powerful engines is set.