With 206,816 units delivered, the Peugeot 208 was the best-selling car in Europe last year. The B-segment hatch managed to dethrone the VW Golf and therefore end its 14-year reign. It put the company with the lion badge in the number one spot for the first time after 2007 when the car's predecessor, the 207, topped the rankings. To maintain the strong sales momentum, the French are preparing a mid-cycle update for this hugely popular supermini.
Even though the 208 was unveiled in March 2019 or a few months before the 2008, Peugeot decided to prioritize the crossover's facelift, which we saw in early May. Logic tells us the subcompact hatchback can't be far behind and should inherit just about the same updates implemented in the equivalent crossover. Seen here in these first spy shots is the e-208, complete with aerodynamic wheels curiously covered in camouflage.
Peugeot 208 facelift first spy photos
At the rear, the updated taillights take after the latest 2008 and should feature the familiar three-claw motif that we assume is also hiding in the front bumper since the crossover now has three vertical strips. New alloy wheel designs and fresh colors should round off the changes on the outside. The high-riding cousin can be had with new alloys varying in size from 16 to 18 inches along with a Selenium Grey, a two-tone GT with a black roof, and black mirror caps for all trims.
Our spies also peeked inside, where evidently the 208 will receive the crossover's tweaks. All iterations of the 2008 now come with a 10-inch touchscreen while the Allure and GT boast a new 10-inch digital driver's display with a 3D effect on the latter trim. With this prototype being an EV, it obviously has an automatic transmission, but Peugeot is putting a newly designed gear shift lever on the manual-equipped 2008 that should carry over to the supermini.
The e-208 was updated in late September 2022 with Stellantis' improved electric motor featuring 156 horsepower (115 kilowatts) or 20 hp (15 kW) more than before. Torque has remained the same at 260 Newton-meters (191 pound-feet). The e-motor gets its juice from a 400V battery pack with a usable capacity of 48.1 kWh, boosting the WLTP range by 10.5 percent to 400 kilometers (249 miles) on a full charge.
In the 2008's case, a newly developed hybrid with a 136-hp gasoline engine and a dual-clutch six-speed automatic transmission will be added early next year. The DCT will incorporate the electric motor, and Peugeot has promised fuel consumption will go down by 15 percent compared to the equivalent non-hybrid powertrain. It also projects the crossover will be driven in the city for more than 50 percent of the time in EV mode.
The 2008 and e-2008 facelifted models are going on sale this summer and we're expecting the revised 208 to follow by year's end or early 2024.
