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John Mahoney8 Oct 2018
NEWS

Hot Peugeot 508 R coming

Flagship French sedan and wagon set to get high-output all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid powertrain

Peugeot Sport is secretly readying powerful all-wheel drive performance versions of both the 508 sedan and wagon, carsales.com.au can exclusively reveal.

Development of the fast Peugeot 508s is well underway at the French car-maker's performance division just outside Paris, a senior insider has confirmed, but despite producing at least 260kW neither 508 model will wear the iconic 'GTI' badge.

Instead, the new rival to cars like the Audis S4 and Mercedes-AMG C 43 is set to revive the brand's 'R' badge last used on the RCZ R coupe.

According to the senior Peugeot exec, speaking to us following the 508 Touring's reveal at the Paris motor show, the Peugeot 508 R will be powered by the car-maker's all-new plug-in hybrid powertrain to help it meet strict European CO2 emissions.

"In the future, we won't have a powerful engine without electrical assistance".

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Although he refused to confirm how much power the 508 R will offer, the insider suggests it will be far more than the 224kW to be delivered by the range-topping 3008 HYBRID4 that's set to go on sale in 2020.

We expect Peugeot Sport to boost the power of the standard powertrain's 147kW 1.6-litre PureTech turbo-petrol engine and fit a pair of more powerful electric motors in place of the regular twin 80kW motors.

A larger, more-energy dense lithium-ion battery cell might also be offered in instead of the 13.2kWh battery pack that powers the next-gen plug-in hybrid powertrain.

Originally, it was thought Peugeot’s most powerful plug-in hybrid model would be the front-wheel drive 508 HYBRID that only gets 166kW.

peugeot 508 009 hybrid

But our insider said there is no engineering reason why the twin-motor version can't be fitted to the fast 508, confirming it will come with all-wheel drive.

Based on the same EMP2 platform as the accomplished 308 GTI, but with the added benefit of independent multi-link rear suspension, the Peugeot 508 R should be a real contender in the mid-size European sports sedan (and wagon) class.

Thank to all-wheel drive and existing weight-saving measures that include an aluminium bonnet, front fenders and a composite rear boot lid, the 508 R could bring an unbeatable power-to-weight ratio.

Expect a 0-100km/h time of around 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 250km/h.

Supporting the news that a rapid 508 is in the pipeline, Peugeot design boss Gilles Vidal told carsales.com.au: "We will have sportier versions of the 508, the hybrid 3008 will have 300hp (224kW) and at some point probably even more, so we'll have a performance version.

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"Not only does a PHEV lower emissions and fuel consumption, it gives you extra power and if you adjust all of this properly you can get a proper performance car," said Vidal, adding:

"Your ultimate car in terms of performance becomes the lowest in terms of CO2."

Vidal says he's looking forward to the challenge of styling a performance version of the 508.

"I don't think it would take much [for the 508] to become a hot sedan. You don't need to go crazy".

The Peugeot chief designer said that larger 20-inch wheels fit easily to the new 508 and that larger-still 21-inch rims could theoretically squeeze under its wheel-arches, but warned they would limit Peugeot Sport's tyre choice when developing the chassis.

Like our insider, Vidal also says the 508 is unlikely to ever be a GTI.

"You couldn't name this a GTI.

"It relates to small cars like the 208 and 308. It sounds funny to put a badge like this on a big car," Peugeot's design chief said.

Apart from confirming a faster 508 R is coming, our insider said Peugeot has internally ruled out a replacement for the high-riding, Audi A4 Allroad-rivalling 508 RXH.

It's thought that slow sales of the last version ruined a business case for a new model.

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