Lighter and more elaborately styled than the 207 it replaces, Peugeot's new 208 is described by its maker as “a milestone” and “a defining moment for Peugeot.”
Borrowing some design cues from the EX1 Concept, styling features like the large 'floating' grille and 'boomerang' taillights give the 208 a more elegant and more distinctive aura than its predecessor.
Once again available as either a three-door or five-door, the new hatchback is 7cm shorter than the 207 and 1cm lower, yet Peugeot claims to have created a roomier interior with 5cm more legroom and a boot that's grown by 15 litres.
Peugeot has also completely redesigned the dashboard to make it entirely intuitive and clear and new novelties include a head-up display and a large touch screen.
With the new 208 being 110kg lighter on average, and sporting a modern range of petrol and diesel engines (with idle-stop technology on most models), it's no surprise that fuel efficiency is much improved. This also translates into an average CO2 emissions reduction of 34g/km.
Peugeot hasn't gone into much detail on the engine range, but has disclosed that the diesel models deliver combined fuel consumption as low as 3.4 litres per 100km (equating to 87g/km) and there's also a pair of three-cylinder petrol engines, 1-litre and 1.2-litre VTI, which sip as little as 4.3 l/100km (99g/km).
Its more ecologically friendly design also means that 25 percent of its materials are either recycled or of natural origin.
South Africans will have to wait almost a year to get their hands on the new 208 though, with the local launch set to take place around September 2012.