Peugeot Make Sure Not To Expand PHEV High Performance Cars Select Focus To EVs

Peugeot 508 PSE. (Doc. Stellantis)

JAKARTA - An automotive brand from France, Peugeot confirmed that they would not expand the ranks of the highest PSE variants beyond 508. However, the brand will shift its focus to full electrification.

Peugeot Sports Engineered (PSE) is the top variant of this lion logo manufacturer model. The only model that offers this type is 508 with the Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV) system.

Peugeot CEO Linda Jackson, said that her party had thought of expanding the PSE to a number of existing models, but the current top priority is only about electrification.

"We will have a complete electric car lineup by the end of this year where each model will have an electric version and we have to determine its priorities," Jackson said as quoted by Autocar, Friday, June 7.

Although PSE will not be extended to other models, Jackson said that it opens up the possibility to present high-performance electric vehicles (EVs) built on Stellantis' platform.

"Nothing is certain. I'm not going to say we're going to launch something tomorrow, so don't be too hopeful," Jackson said.

Back to Peugeot 508 PSE, this car carries a sedan with a sporty and modern look inspired by the prototype 9X8 Hypercar racing car which was included in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship.

Taking the base from the facelift version of the second generation model 508, this car carries PHEV technology combining 1.6 PSE engines with electric motors embedded in the front and rear, producing combined power of up to 395 dk and torque 500 Nm.

Combined with the transmission of eight automatic accelerations, this sedan can run from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds with the highest speed reaching 250 km/hour. Equipped with an 11.8 kWh battery, the car can run with pure electricity as far as 50 km in one charge.

For the price, Peugeot 508 PSE is priced at 53,975 pounds, equivalent to Rp1.12 billion in the UK.