Fresh looks will allow the next Peugeot 5008 SUV to play a more distinct role in the brand’s product range, and our exclusive image previews how it could look
Peugeot is considering refocusing its flagship SUV, the 5008, into a more practicality-focused model when its next generation arrives in 2022, Auto Express can reveal.
Like its smaller sibling the 3008, the Peugeot 5008 was revamped completely in 2017, switching from a pseudo-MPV into a more conventional SUVs. The earlier model’s poor fortunes have been reversed as a result, helping to swell Peugeot’s balance sheet.
Next-generation electric Peugeot 3008 SUV could have a 400-mile-plus range
Next-generation electric Peugeot 3008 SUV could have a 400-mile-plus rangeA facelifted 5008 should arrive by the end of this year. But looking further into the future, customer analysis has led some inside Peugeot to push for the next new generation of the car to be moved in a more extreme direction – forgoing a little SUV style in favour of practicality that its owner base seems to appreciate.
Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Peugeot’s design chief Gilles Vidal said, “The 5008 is bought by young adults who have kids. So the bigger car is bought by the families but often the people with more means, more money, are buying the smaller one [the 3008].
“That may lead us for the next generation of 5008 to go even more square and find a way to make it sexy.”
Our exclusive image shows one concept for how Peugeot could increase the 5008’s practicality. A more vertical rear glass line would improve overall boot capacity and improve accommodation for the third row of seats. Vidal’s task will be to make the roofline still look aggressive, perhaps through clever use of the side chrome trim, and to reduce the visual depth of the car’s metal flanks without resorting to complex, fussy surfacing.
Vidal said that he was experimenting with how to make a more practical 5008 still have visual appeal – the sort of characteristic that has persuaded increasing numbers of people to move away from MPVs in favour of SUVs. “When I say square in relation to the 5008, it shouldn’t be a boring square,” he said. “There’s a place, for sure, to make it more practical and then generate a design that is still amazing but not through dynamism. It’s another kind of sexy.”
As with the next 3008, the next 5008 should be based on an evolution of the current car’s EMP2 platform, called EMP2 V4. This will allow the car to be powered by petrol, diesel, mild-hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure-electric powertrains.
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