Peugeot 508 gets new Le Mans-inspired look for 2023 | GRR
Peugeot has a sleek new image. The French marque is desperate to frame itself in a new, cooler, more upmarket way than ever before, and to that end, it’s given its flagship 508 saloon a makeover in tune with this new way of thinking.
Up front, the 508’s sharp and sporty look has evolved into something a bit more modern and radical. The grille blends into the front end of the car and the lower bumper, replacing the much more obvious chrome item of the previous car. The headlights have been modified too, with three new ‘claws’ of light that reach downwards.
Sitting pride of place on the new front end is a hugely important but easy to miss part of this brand transformation Peugeot is trying to sell – its new badge, which is a modernised version of its badge from the 1960s. It’s intended to make Peugeot look a bit more fashionable, and is joined by Peugeot lettering on the car’s rear fascia – the only major change at the back of the 508, which is applied on both the saloon version of the car and the SW estate. One more minor alteration is the inclusion of updated taillights with scrolling indicators.
Elsewhere, the car’s ten-inch infotainment system has been given a spruce up by moving to new software. Peugeot calls the new system i-Connect Advanced, and it introduces smartphone-like menus and widgets, as well as natural language voice recognition and wireless smartphone mirroring.
As for what powers the 508, nothing’s really changed on that front. There’s a petrol and a diesel version, both kicking out 130PS (96kW) and sending drive to the front wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox. But it’s the plug-in hybrid versions Peugeot’s more keen to highlight, of which there are three.
Two front-wheel-drive options both use a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine in tandem with an electric motor, either with 180PS (132kW) or 225PS (165kW). But the range is still topped by the most powerful Peugeot road car ever – the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered.
This also uses plug-in hybrid power, but steps things up with a 200PS (147kW) petrol engine with two electric motors, to give four-wheel-drive and a total power output of 360PS (265kW). And it too blends the sharp new appearance of the facelifted model with some Peugeot Sport Engineered tweaks, namely sharper looking bumpers and grilles, bigger wheels, and distinctive ‘Kryptonite’ green flashes.
Production of the new 508 will begin in France soon, with it due to hit roads in June.