Will the new Peugeot 508 add up?

What do you get if you add 407 and 607 and divide by 2? Clearly the answer is 507 right? Well actually no, not quite. If Peugeot's new family car is anything to go by, the answer is in fact 508.

That's because Peugeot is killing off the current 407 and 607 and replacing them with the 508. Simple. You do the math – as our American friends might say.

But enough of the mathematics, how do you sum up the arrival of the 508? Well as the replacement for the outgoing 407, it will be battling against the likes of the Mondeo and Vectra within the fleet and family car markets. This highly competitive sector also contains the excellent Citroen C5, arguably the current benchmark for French family cars. The 508 will need to be very good if it is going to subtract any sales from rival models when it arrives in 2011.

Visually, the 508 is certainly a big improvement on the 407, drawing influence from the SR1 concept unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show earlier in the year. Whether it does enough to draw private sales away from Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen is debatable, but in the fleet market this is unlikely to be a problem. Peugeot claims the car is “full of 'French chic', equally at home in Paris or London. In reality though, the 508 will need to look at home parked outside Travelodge Northampton or Fleet Services.

A vast array of engine choices will be available, but the most interesting will be the HYbrid4 which has a diesel engine powering the front wheels and an electric motor at the rear, which gives produces 200bhp through all four wheels. With an anticipated CO2 emissions figure of 99g/km meaning an exemption from road tax, this will undoubtedly be the stand-out model in the range.

All cars will feature Peugeot's new e-HDI stop / start system, a new generation of the stop and start systems which Peugeot claims will offer improved driveability and economy enhancements of up to 15%. Indeed, the 508's overall reduction in weight and improved dynamics does mean the range is likely to be one of the company's most energy efficient models to date.

The 508 will be available in saloon and estate versions and will be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in October before going on sale in early 2011. Prices have yet to be announced. Expect fleet managers and rental firms to be reaching for their calculators come the new financial year.

Gavin Braithwaite-Smith

Gavin is a keen petrolhead and a regular writer for Car Press and PetrolBlog. To read more of Gavin's work, visit his blog or follow him at @MajorGav on Twitter.

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13/07/2010