We had to wait a while, but more than a year and a half after the unveiling of the Peugeot 508 Sport Engineered Concept the production version is finally here. It bears the letters PSE, which stands for Peugeot Sport Engineered. That name was already used in some form with the concept version and the PSE designation is of course also related to the fact that Peugeot Sport has recently been given a new look. Sporty Peugeots now get PSE after their name and with that the famous GTI designation also seems to disappear from the picture. That may depend on the drivetrain. After all, the 508 PSE is a sporty plug-in hybrid, so who knows, the PSE name may be reserved for (partly) electric sports versions for the time being and GTI will be retained for the purely combustion engine equipped crack noses. Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato suggested earlier this year in any case, the GTI designation will continue to exist alongside it for the time being.
Hybrid power
Enough about the name, time for the car. If the 508 PSE, which incidentally appears as Berline and as SW, is a harbinger of what order of sportsmanship we can expect for other Peugeots, it looks good. The new top version of the 508 has a blown 200 hp 1.6 that works together with two electric motors, one per axle. Together, this is good for a system power of 360 hp and 520 Nm. This makes it the most powerful street-legal series production Peugeot ever. The power is sent to all four wheels or to two wheels by means of an eight-speed automatic transmission, depending on the selected driving mode. To steer the power in the right direction, the 508 PSE is equipped with an adapted chassis, adjustable shock absorbers and larger brake discs.
According to Peugeot, the 508 PSE goes from 0-100 km / h in Sport mode in just 5.2 seconds (with the Sedan). The party ends at 250 km / h. All in all, the 508 PSE is a very powerful and fast story, especially for Peugeot standards. The joke, of course, is that you can also drive it purely electrically with a calmer right foot. According to Peugeot, it is possible to travel 42 km with the fully charged 11.5 kWh battery.
Appearance
Of course it wouldn’t be a complete story without some external adjustments. After all, you want your sporty 508 to be distinguishable from the lease version of your neighbor across the street. The 508 PSE is not shouting it off, but it is still good to see that it is something special. We see a dark modified grille, thicker front and rear bumper work, side skirts and two thick chutes at the rear. The whole thing sits on new 20-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires. They are 24 mm at the front and 12 mm further from the center at the rear than usual.
The yellow / green of PSE returns to details both on the outside and in the interior, for example the brake calipers are painted in that color, but also the inserts in the front bumper. In the interior, we see the color in the stitching on the leather and Alcantara-covered sports seats, in the instruments, the PSE logo on the door sills and of course also on the logo on the steering wheel. The 508 PSE is available in three colors: Perla Nera Black, Pearl White and Selenium Gray.
The Peugeot 508 PSE will be available at dealers in the first half of 2021, but will be available for order in October of this year. Prices will be announced in the run-up to that introduction.
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