The first photos of the new Peugeot 208 supermini are out. The 208 is the successor to the Peugeot 207 that has been in production since 2006, and it will compete against the likes of the Volkswagen Polo and Fiat Punto in the highly popular B-segment.
According to the first details that were published along with the pictures, the 208 is more compact than the 207 measuring 3 975 mm long, or 70 mm less than its predecessor. More importantly, Peugeot’s engineers managed to reduce the weight by a whopping 110 kg on average across the range. The 208 will launch in Europe in the second quarter of 2012 with a choice of two petrol and five diesel engines.
The most frugal of these are the 3-cylinder engines, which will be the 1.0-litre with 49 kW and emissions of 99 g/km and the 67 kW e-diesel with even lower emissions – just 87 g/km.
We don’t have any news about the much speculated upon Peugeot 208 GTI. That is expected to come, complete with the 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol with around 147 kW, but not perhaps until sales of the 208 have bedded in. Also likely is a tamer version of the 208 GTI – the 208 GT – borrowing much of the GTI’s sporty bits, but with a lot less power.
