Peugeot, or more accurately, the automaker’s in-house tuning and motorsport division, Peugeot Sport, has unveiled their own unique and squarely more performance-oriented interpretation of the second-generation 508 sedan. Though, its full moniker of 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered Concept, sounds a bit clumsy for what is an impressive car, both technically and aesthetically.
Due to make its full premiere at the Geneva Motor Show next month, the car acts as a fully working showcase model for what can be done in the near future to endow other models with Peugeot Sport DNA and higher performance while remaining emissions conscious.
Based on a production version of the 508 Hybrid, the concept combines a 147kW Puretech four-cylinder petrol engine with an 82kW electric motor to drive the front wheels. Meanwhile, a more powerful 150kW electric motor supplies additional thrust to the rear wheels, working altogether manages to throw the four-door sedan to 100km/h from rest in just 4.3 seconds. Top speed, on the other hand, is electronically limited to 250km/h.
Peugeot hasn’t officially revealed its combined output numbers as yet, but is said offhandedly that it’s in the region of 260kW, but peak torque is a little more difficult to calculate - based on the dual electric motors, though, we expect it to be quite a sizeable number.
Supplying the dual motors, though, depends on how much energy can be taken from the combustion engine, scavenged through regenerative braking, or recharged at the plug. Once at full capacity, though, Peugeot claims the 11.8kWh battery can drive up to 50km without invoking its combustion engine and can help the car emit a claimed 49g/km when in Hybrid mode.
Peugeot Sport hasn’t used their typical ingredients on this 508 concept, though, rather helped meld electrification with high performance while keeping a high degree of luxury and style. Consequently, it might be heavier than they’d like it to be, but there’s no denying its supercar-like performance off the line.
Oddly, there hasn’t been mention of what Peugeot Sport has done to the 508’s stock suspension setup or calibration work that would impact its engine transmission response, if any, but we suspect the tuning division would not have let a car with such prominent ties to it leave its premises without undergoing some significant improvements to handling.
Having said that, style is a matter this 508 concept takes rather seriously. Dressed in a new Selenium Grey paint finish, the colour actually changes depending on how the light strikes it. There are also carbon fibre mirrors, a redesigned front bumper with 3D-printed valences in bright green to direct air to its new rear diffuser. You also can’t un-see the winglets that sprout from its C-pillar.
The interior is pretty much the same seen on the standard 508, which is to say that it’s rather excellent, though here there’s plenty more Alcantara on display, accented with overstitching in Kryptonite and Onyx Black. In particular, the new cabin treatment lends more verve to the centre stack and transmission tunnel, more fairly splitting attention between it and i-Cockpit digital instrument cluster arrangement and compact steering wheel.
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