Peugeot 508: Facelift breaks cover early with bold new front

The facelifted Peugeot 508 has broken cover just hours before its planned reveal.

The images, published on Autospy courtesy of Kero_Wolf, show front three-quarter views of the fastback and SW wagon.

The front draws inspiration from both the recent 3008 and 5008 facelifts, as well as this year’s Inception concept.

The latter’s influence can be seen in the three-claw LED daytime running lights, though these are much more tightly spaced than on the Inception.

Peugeot’s new “frameless” grille motif, first seen on the facelifted 3008 and 5008 and also present on the latest 308, replaces the slimmer grille of the outgoing 508.

The grille area appears to be available either in body-colour, or in contrasting dark grey. Overall, the look is somewhat more imposing than that of the current car.

New wheel designs are also present, though we can’t see what changes have been applied to the rear.

The updated 508 is also expected to receive the brand’s latest-generation infotainment system.

Peugeot teased the updated car earlier this week with the hashtag #PSE, referring to the current car’s Sport Engineered plug-in hybrid performance flagship that isn’t offered here.

Revealed in 2020, the PSE features a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain with total system outputs of 268kW of power and 520Nm of torque, good for a 0-100km/h time of 5.2 seconds.

There’s an electric motor on each axle, giving the PSE all-wheel drive, and an 11.5kWh lithium-ion battery under the boot floor.

Claimed electric range is 42km.

Given the focus on this variant in the teaser, the PSE could be in line to receive improvements to its range or performance.

While Peugeot Australia has introduced a milder, front-wheel drive plug-in hybrid 508 fastback and plans to add a wagon version of it in the first half of this year, it has ruled out the PSE.

“The PSE is fairly limited in the number in production, so right now we’re not considering it for this market but if ever there comes a time when we can, we definitely will,” said Kate Gillis, managing director of Peugeot Citroen Australia, late last year.

“But it certainly won’t be here in the short-term,” she added.

The 508 is currently available in Australia with only two powertrains: a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine with 165kW of power and 300Nm of torque and a turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder plug-in hybrid using a 11.8kWh lithium-ion battery and 80kW/230Nm electric motor, with total system outputs of 165kW and 360Nm.

All models in Australia are front-wheel drive.

The current-generation model was revealed in 2018 and went on sale locally in 2019 in both fastback and Sportswagon body styles.

Last year, Peugeot sold just 130 examples of the 508 in Australia, for a one per cent share of the depressed mass-market mid-sized segment. It still managed to beat the 96-unit tally of the Honda Accord, however.

MORE: Everything Peugeot 508