Peugeot’s sparky 308 will get hybrid energy and good-looking strains
The Peugeot 308 proves that mass-market design needn’t be boring, mixing hybrid energy with sharp strains and wonderful detailing
Automobile design ebbs and flows. Firms that discover themselves class leaders one 12 months may lose the lustre of innovation the subsequent, just some fashions down the road. We’ve obtained a particular comfortable spot for Peugeot’s present design path. After a decade within the doldrums, the enduring French firm had one thing of a revelation.
Underneath the design path of Gilles Vidal (who joined Peugeot in 2010 and left for Renault in 2020), it corrected course again in the direction of the fashionable, well-proportioned design it had been famend for within the Seventies and Eighties. Vehicles just like the 208 and 508 took high quality proportions and (principally) wonderful detailing, giving the model a purpose to face out amongst its rivals, a lot of whom have been getting into their fallow interval at about the identical time.
That is the Peugeot 308, a quotidian identify that has its origins all the best way again to the Peugeot 301 of 1932. As you’d anticipate, it replaces the fairly doughy 307, which in flip changed the elegant, Pininfarina-designed 306 (one other instance of that ebbing and flowing). This mannequin is definitely the third iteration of the 308 (with the 308 Mk1 representing absolutely the nadir of Peugeot design).
The mannequin was given a radical design refresh in 2021 and not too long ago grew to become the primary mannequin to bear the all-new Peugeot emblem. A pure electrical model is deliberate for 2023. The 308 is obtainable as an everyday hatchback and as an SW (property). It’ll quickly be joined by a good-looking 408 sibling, designed within the more and more fashionable fastback/crossover-style.
It’s arduous to place a finger on precisely why the 308 is so likeable. Examined in ‘GT Premium Hybrid 225 e-EAT8’ trim, it comes with a turbo-charged 1.6 litre petrol engine bolstered by electrical motors. Comparatively small and lightweight for a contemporary automotive, the hybrid set-up offers the GT zippy efficiency, a modest however nonetheless helpful all-electric vary of 37 miles, and wonderful gas economic system.
The proportions work nicely for each common and SW fashions, though the signature deep grille has most likely (hopefully) reached its most measurement. There are different little leonine design touches, just like the claw-slash hind lights and the cat-like countenance of the entrance finish – a top quality shared by all one of the best Peugeots over the previous few many years.
The steering wheel is small by trendy requirements, however the uneven sprint doesn’t come throughout as too fussy. The surfaces and touchpoints all have a top quality and really feel that belie this automotive’s middle-market standing; it’ll take a daring producer to lastly finish the established order of leather-based, piano black and chrome in up to date interiors. The Peugeot 308 drives in addition to it seems, which is to say with zest and spirit when required, in addition to providing a trip that’s quiet, refined and cossetting.
Coming quickly: the Peugeot e-308
All-in-all, the 308 is characterful, clean-living, and sensible. It joins the Peugeot 508 and 5008 in a line-up of good-looking automobiles that provide a sober, considerate counterpoint to sister model Citroën’s extra avant-garde leanings (see the Citroën My Ami Buggy, for instance).
The approaching arrival of the e-308 ought to transfer the sport on even additional. With a promised vary of over 240 miles, it’ll be a worthy opponent to the challenger manufacturers. Peugeot, based manner again in 1810, nonetheless has an extended life forward of it. §
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