The 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered Concept (see video) came into the spotlight a year ago and will be visiting Geneva again this year as a production-ready vehicle.
The original Peugeot 508 PSE packed a hybrid powertrain called Hybrid4 rated at 400 hp (298 kW). Its mass-market version will likely be sharing the tech specs with the latest DS 9 sedan, though, and therefore have 360 hp (270 kW) at its disposal – which is still plenty, to be sure. The DS 9 packs a 1.6-liter turbo-four mill assisted by dual electric motors: one built into the Aisin eight-speed auto transmission and the other mounted on the rear axle. This makes it an AWD vehicle.
The teaser pics confirm that the final production styling of the 508 PSE is almost identical to that of the concept, including the entire body kit, the rear diffuser and even the carbon side mirror cups. The concept car also had Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires sized 245/35 R20, as well as vivid-green accents in the cabin.
Peugeot says all of its performance-oriented models will henceforth come out with the ‘PSE’ badge attached. It should also be noticed that the Peugeot 508 PSE easily outperforms its rivals in the market segment: the BMW 330e Hybrid only manages 252 hp (188 kW), while the Volkswagen Passat GTE lags even further behind with 218 hp (163 kW).
According to Peugeot, the concept shown in the video could sprint 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 4.3 seconds and hit 250 km/h (155 mph); it remains to be seen what its production version is capable of.