Peugeot 508 departs, taking the Peugeot Sport Engineered sub brand with it
The 508 will be Peugeot’s last internal-combustion engined saloon
The saloon car market has suffered another casualty in the shape of the Peugeot 508. Peugeot has confirmed that after six years on sale, 508 will “come to the end of its life cycle in December 2024”.
The move comes as Peugeot looks to reaffirm its position as an electric car manufacturer and the 508 was the only model in the French firm’s line up that wasn’t offered with an all-electric variant. “We have chosen to focus even further on our electric models in the UK, with the ZEV mandate giving us a clear direction to do this”, said Peugeot in a statement.
Peugeot will continue to sell the 508 in saloon and 508 SW estate guise until the end of the year, but only in plug-in hybrid GT trim. The move in-effect brings an end to its ‘Peugeot Sport Engineered’ (PSE) performance brand, with no other Peugeot having been offered with PSE trim.
The Peugeot 508 PSE only accounted for around five per cent of total 508 sales, going up against other potent executive saloons with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to an electric motor for a total of 335bhp.
While the 508 might be bowing out, the Peugeot saloon should live on with all-electric power. At the Consumer Electronic Show in 2023, Peugeot showed its ‘Inception’ concept - sitting on Stellantis’ new STLA Large architecture. With a 100kWh battery, the Inception should be able to offer a range of around 497 miles.
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