Peugeot 508 design & styling

When the covers came off the 508 at the Geneva motor show in 2018, the conservative design of its 2010-2018 Peugeot 508 predecessor was almost blown out of memory entirely. Peugeot stirred a welcome dose of eye-catching, curvaceous style into the 508’s recipe; and having always offered three-box saloons with conventional boots, it also acknowledged modern preferences in another way by switching to a hatchback bodystyle in addition to a more conventional estate.

The car blooded a new corporate face for its maker: one with long, curving, vertical LED lighting bars framing the headlights, which made its cars very recognisable - albeit for looking slightly like Sesame Street’s Count von Count. But now, the fangs have been taken off - or, perhaps, greatly toned down - the facelifted 508 getting a wider, more technical-looking patterned radiator grille based on that of the firm’s 9X8 endurance racer.

At the rear, a new glossy model plate, with a spelled-out ‘Peugeot’ monogram, replaces the car’s old boxing lion badge. Elsewhere, though, the car is mostly as it was. There are frameless doors, fatter-looking chrome exhaust tips, and wheels that properly fill their arches; and the silhouette is that of a “two-and-a-half-box fastback” which will be appreciated by those who like the look of Audi’s Audi A5 Sportback – and not simply because of the complex rear three-quarter panels that necessitated stamping methods generally the preserve of sports cars.

The last Peugeot saloon to have a model badge on its bonnet? The 504, which went out of production in 1983; though it was a habit running a long way further back than that.

Matt Saunders

Road test editor

Despite its D-segment sensibilities, the 508 is conveniently sized, being some 80mm shorter and 51mm lower than its predecessor, and much smaller in footprint than key rivals. The payoff is a tighter turning circle than that of some family hatches, despite the athletic proportions.