The Peugeot 408 is a crossover car produced by French automaker

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

. It was unveiled in June 2022 as a

C-segment The C-segment is the 3rd category of the European segments for passenger cars and is described as "medium cars". It is equivalent to the Euro NCAP "small family car" size class, and the compact car category in the United States. In 2011, the C- ...

vehicle slotting between the 308 and 3008 or 508. It is based on the

EMP2 platform The EMP2 (Efficient Modular Platform) is a modular car platform which is jointly developed and used by French car manufacturer PSA Group (merged into Stellantis since 2021) for compact and mid-size cars with front wheel drive or four wheel drive an ...

closely shared with the third-generation 308, and despite sharing the saloon silhouettes, mechanically unrelated to the Chinese market 408 saloon (which itself was based on the previous-generation 308). According to Peugeot, the 408 is a blend between

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon definiti ...

hatchback A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. ...

s and

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...

, and has been described as a coupe crossover.

Overview

Development of the vehicle by

PSA Group The PSA Group (), legally known as Peugeot S.A. (Peugeot Société Anonyme, trading as Groupe PSA; formerly known as PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles ...

took seven years due to its radical concept, and was led by project manager Aurélie Bresson. The vehicle was codenamed as the P54 during development. The design was inspired from an internal concept car that Peugeot had worked on, which was known as the "2015 Advanced Design manifesto". Its design concept was also featured by the

Citroën C5 X Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired 8 ...

, which shares the same platform (long-wheelbase EMP2 V3) and height with the 408. Due to its body shape, the 408 achieves a low

coefficient of drag In fluid dynamics, the drag coefficient (commonly denoted as: c_\mathrm, c_x or c_) is a dimensionless quantity that is used to quantify the drag or resistance of an object in a fluid environment, such as air or water. It is used in the drag equ ...

of 0.28, on par with traditional saloons. The 408 also shared the same headlights, taillights, and dashboard design as the third-generation 308, which was developed alongside it. Three powertrain options similar to the 308 will be offered, which are two options of plug-in hybrid petrol with total output of and , and a base 1.2-litre turbocharged three-cylinder PureTech petrol engine. All models are mated to an 8-speed automatic gearbox. The petrol engine will be replaced with a

mild hybrid Mild hybrids (also known as power-assist hybrids, battery-assisted hybrid vehicles or BAHVs) are generally cars with an internal combustion engine equipped with an electric machine (one motor/generator in a parallel hybrid configuration) allowing t ...

unit in late 2023 and a battery electric model called the e-408 will follow. The 408 is produced in

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...

, France since 2022 and

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, China since January 2023. In the Chinese market, the model is sold as the 408 X to differentiate it with the older saloon model. The dichroic paintwork of the 2017 concept inspired that of the 408. File:Peugeot 408 (crossover) 1X7A7194.jpg, Rear view File:Peugeot 408 (crossover) 1X7A6561.jpg, Interior

408 First Edition

Peugeot's UK division launched a limited edition of 50 units named ''First Edition'', based on the GT trim.

Powertrain

The 408 is only available with an automatic gearbox, with no manual options. Outside Europe, the 408 is also offered with a THP petrol engine. A battery electric version has been officially announced for 2023 or 2024.

References

External links

* {{Peugeot timeline 2020 to date

408 __NOTOC__ Year 408 (Roman numerals, CDVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Bassus and Philippus (or, less frequentl ...

Cars introduced in 2022 Compact sport utility vehicles Crossover sport utility vehicles Hatchbacks Euro NCAP small family cars Front-wheel-drive vehicles Hybrid sport utility vehicles Plug-in hybrid vehicles Partial zero-emissions vehicles