New car news

16 February 2010 - 10:00

Mon dieu! Another nice Peugeot!

Easy, lads. This might become a habit if you're not careful. Hot on the heels of its rather nice SR1, Peugeot has released another Actually Quite Handsome Concept. It is, pretentiously, called the ‘5 by Peugeot'.

Leaving the name to one side, we reckon it's rather nice. The 5 - yes, we are calling it that - will be officially shown at the Geneva show early next month, and previews Peugeot's reasonably-soon-to-arrive 407 successor, likely called the 508.

The 5 carries over the SR1's smaller, less terrifying grille, and exudes an overall air of subtlety that's been horribly lacking from recent Peugeots. OK, maybe it's a bit too understated for a show concept, but we'll happily take understatement in the place of Peugeot's now-trademark bulgy eyes and evil plastic clown smile.

Underneath that trim metalwork is another iteration of Peugeot's four-wheel-drive hybrid system, with a 2.0-litre diesel engine powering the front wheels and an electric motor driving the rears. That means 149kW - an impressive figures, if it's to be believed.

We'll see this system reach production in the 3008 some time in 2011, with a host of variations rolling out across the Peugeot range after that.

But before then, we'll get a good squint at the '5 by Peugeot' (anyone else reckon it sounds like a rubbish eau de toilette? '5 by Peugeot... because you normally smell suspiciously of farmyards') in Geneva. Thoughts?