Concept car styling for new Peugeot 308

[Plex]

Peugeot’s next 308 will be “very different from the current car”, with a fresh shape that will pitch it more directly against the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf.

Peugeot product boss Laurent Blanchet told Autocar that the new car would look more like a conventional hatchback than the current 308, which he described as being halfway between a saloon and a hatch.

Set to be unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show in September, the new model will sport a design influenced by the Onyx concept car, especially at the front. Peugeot design boss Gilles Vidal hinted that the 308 would use a front end derived from the Onyx, but inspired by the classic 504 Coupé, too.

It will also be the first Peugeot to use PSA’s new EMP2 platform. Similar in concept to Volkswagen’s MQB architecture, it’s of a modular design and intended to be used in PSA’s C and D-segment cars, which make up more than half of the group’s production. It can employ either multi-link or torsion beam rear suspension.

Blanchet said the new platform would give the next 308 a planted, wheel-at-each-corner stance, with shorter overhangs for a more dynamic appearance. Lower engine mounting positions allow for a more aggressive, sharper front-end design with a lower bonnet than seen on the current Peugeot range. The lower stance should also improve the driving position.

A saving of around 70kg over the current car will reduce the entry-level model’s weight to around 1300kg.

The name won’t change, as part of Peugeot’s new strategy to use ‘8’ as the suffix digit in the badges of all of its cars for existing territories and ‘1’ for models built specifically for developing markets.

Autocar