Peugeot 308 (2007): first official pictures

By Ben Whitworth

First Official Pictures

02 July 2007 01:53

This can only be a Peugeot…

You eagled eyed car spotter, you… Yes, it’s the new 308 that arrives here in October after first making its public debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September. Known internally at T7, it’s taken four years and 4000 people to develop, and in a bid to compact its reliability record, each car will undergo an 1800-point quality check on the production line.

Not really. It may not be beautiful but British designer Keith Ryder’s creation is certainly distinctive – and that’s what Peugeot wants. The idea is to create cars that are immediately identifiable firstly as a Peugeot, and that distinctiveness doesn't necessarily have anything to do with beauty or grace. Hence the gaping mouth, vast surfboard-sized headlamps, protruding ‘Lion’s Nose’ bonnet and high-seated faux-MPV driving position that all create visual links with the other models in the Peugeot family. That snout and gaping grille come straight from the mid-engined 908 RC concept car. Sportier models get the protruding nose while less powerful models gets a more restrained version.

By Ben Whitworth