Peugeot is launching no less than 5 EVs in the next two years as it pushes towards 2030, by which point it says 100 percent of its new cars in Europe will be fully electric. And one of those 5 is the e-5008 electric SUV. But the realities of a car market that still buys more combustion cars than EVs means the 5008 will also be available with ICE power, and that’s what our spy photographers have snapped here.
This is our first look at the biggest of Peugeot’s upcoming cars, and despite the psychedelic wrap’s best efforts to confuse our eyes, it’s clear that the new 5008 is a boxier SUV than the one it replaces, featuring a flatter roofline, straighter waistline and slimmer headlights. Though the latest corporate badge on the nose is well hidden, the grille pattern and design of the alloy wheels betray its Peugeot DNA.
The 5008 and its 3008 little brother will use the new STLA Medium platform that’s scheduled to go into a wide range of Stellantis models between now and the end of the decade. But while the STLA Medium platform has been designed primarily with EVs in mind, and those will be the models Peugeot will shout loudest about, not every 5008 will be battery-powered, as the barely visible exhaust tailpipe and silencer on this prototype proves.
Related: Peugeot Launches 3008 And 5008 Hybrid, Details Electrified Powertrain
Peugeot’s goal of 100 percent electric sales by 2030 only applies to Europe and the company concedes it will have to offer alternative (read: hybrid) powertrains for other markets that aren’t quite so far down the road to electrification. This test car could be running a mild-hybrid diesel engine, or it could be packing the punchier of two hybrid engines Peugeot launched in late 2022, and which began finding their way into the firm’s cars this year.
Both rely on a single electric motor to boost their 1.2-liter turbo engines to the tune of 28 hp (21kW / 28PS) and 55 Nm (41 lb-ft), but one powertrain has a total system output of 99 hp (100 PS), while the other makes 134 hp (136 PS). Only the stouter version is man enough to handle the current 5008’s girth, though since even that combo is hardly herculean, there will be more powerful options available for the next-generation SUV, including a plug-in hybrid.
The company didn’t talk much about the 5008 at the recent E-Lion Day presentation devoted to Peugeot’s electric future, but it did give some details about the e-3008, including that it will come with a choice of three different powertrains and up to 434 miles (700 km) of electric range. And because we know that the two cars are closely related, we can presume that much of what applies to the smaller car will also apply to the big one, so expect at least a 400+ mile (644 km) range from an e-5008.
The five-seat, more crossover-style e-3008 arrives first, at some point in the second half of 2023, with the three-row, seven-seat e-5008 coming “shortly after,” which probably means midway through 2024. And naturally, the 5008 is a no-go for North America, Peugeot – or more likely Stellantis chiefs – having decided in 2021 to scrap the brand’s planned return to the U.S.
