Peugeot going to extremes with 3008 and 5008
● All-new Peugeot crossovers expected in 2022 with fresh style ● 3008 may morph into coupé-SUV, 5008 to focus on practicality EXCLUSIVE Fresh looks will allow French company’s successful crossovers to play more distinct roles in its future product range
PEUGEOT is planning a major overhaul of its 3008 and 5008 models for their next generations – due in 2022 – making the brand’s smaller crossover more of a coupé-SUV and refocusing the larger one on practicality and family-friendly usability, Auto Express can exclusively reveal.
The two models were revamped completely back in 2016 and 2017, when they switched from being unfashionable pseudo-MPVs into more style-focused SUVs. They’re expected to be facelifted within the next six months, gaining fresh in-car tech and some more efficient powertrains on top of subtle revisions to their exteriors.
But thinking further ahead, Peugeot’s chief designer believes that what the company has learned about the buyers of the current vehicles could allow the two cars to be pushed in more extreme directions in the future. Speaking exclusively to Auto Express, Gilles Vidal said the 3008 could be made more aggressive – perhaps following the market trends to become a coupé-SUV – while people who buy the 5008 appear to be looking for greater practicality.
“What we want to deliver to the market in the future is concepts that go all the way to what they stand for,” Vidal said. “If we talk about the 3008, it is not bought by families. It’s a couple who didn’t have kids yet or a couple who don’t have their kids any more – either end of the spectrum, basically.
“The 5008 is bought by young adults who have kids,” he continued. “So the bigger car is bought by the families but often the people with more means, more money, are buying the smaller one.
“For the next generation of 5008, that may lead us to go even more square and find a way to make it sexy, whereas the smaller one could go more radical and dynamic. Why not? Every concept should reinforce itself into extremes, and this kind of dynamic SUV, almost a coupé-SUV, makes sense because you’re delivering something more sexy and not sacrificing anything that the customer would need.”
Our exclusive illustrations (right) show how the 3008 could evolve into a sleeker coupé shape for its next generation. The 3008 is all but certain to remain a fivedoor, yet Vidal’s team of designers could well play with the roofline to sacrifice a little rear cabin space and give a more chunky, aggressive stance not unlike that of the Range Rover Evoque, another car frequently bought by families with no children. This would move the 3008 firmly out of the
family SUV market occupied by the likes of the Nissan Qashqai and Ford Kuga.
The car is expected to be one of the first models that will be based on an evolution of the PSA Group’s existing EMP2 platform, called EMP2 V4. This architecture will continue to support regular powertrains, but will also be able to accommodate pure electric in the mix, along with mild-hybrid models that use 48-Volt technology developed in conjunction with Belgian company Punch Powertrain.
Crucially, this EMP2 V4 platform will also allow Peugeot to keep the flexibility of a plug-in hybrid in the range – something that sister brand Citroen’s newly revealed C4 cannot offer because it’s based on the smaller, more EV-focused CMP platform.
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 explained. “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.”
Our exclusive image (above) shows one concept for how Peugeot could increase the 5008’s practicality. A more vertical rear glass line would increase the 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 a sharper focus on customers’ needs could help Peugeot cars to be more extreme over the next decade. “In future, if we look at every product in our range, we can imagine that we’ll try to push it radically into something that is more appealing, more extreme, where there is freedom to do so without ever sacrificing. There’s room to go for that.”
“There’s a place to make the 5008 more practical and generate a design that is still amazing, but not through dynamism. It’s another kind of sexy”
GILLES VIDAL Peugeot design director