The 208 and 2008 are today two of the main pillars of Peugeot. In charge of defending the colors of the lion’s signature in the competitive B segment, these models are sold indistinctly with gasoline, diesel, and electric engines (in the latter case, they receive the trade name e-208 e-2008).
Although they have been on the market for a relatively short time (the second generation, 208 and 2008 were launched in 2019 and 2020 respectively), Peugeot began working on the development program for their replacements a few months ago under a straightforward guideline: that its next generations are exclusively electric.
Jean-Philippe Imparato, CEO of Peugeot, has confirmed this. “The next generation of segment B and segment B-SUV after 208 and 2008 will be fully electric.” Two reasons explain this decision: the enormous success achieved by the e-208 and e-2008 and the increasingly stringent European emission regulations, which will make fully thermal vehicles unviable in a few years.
Everything seems to indicate that the vast majority of brands will follow Peugeot’s footsteps and will stretch their current combustion models through more or less in-depth updates until their commercialization becomes unfeasible due to not being able to comply with the corresponding legislation.
The current 208 and 2008 may coexist for a time with their 100% electric substitutes (indeed through the use of some hybridization system), something that brands such as Porsche will also do with its successful Macan, whose second generation of electricity will be temporarily sold together the first equipped with heat engines.