Meet the all-new Peugeot 208

While Renault is playing it straight with – so far at least – a range of conventionally powered cars (see our story here), Peugeot is charging up the excitement with the first electric baby Pug.

That’s the e-208, a fully electric hatch with a 134bhp motor and 50kWh battery providing a range of 211 miles (under latest WLTP protocol) and guaranteed by Peugeot for eight years or 100,000 miles. It is the first in a series of plug-in Pugs that will see the whole Peugeot range electrified in one way or another by 2023.

With the batteries stored under the floor, Peugeot says the e-208 offers the same size boot as the petrol and diesel engined versions. Charging can be managed from a phone app and completed using a domestic plug (a full charge takes 20 hours) or a rapid-charging point (an 80 per cent charge takes 30 minutes).

The headlining e-208 will be available from this summer, alongside an extensive range of petrol and diesel 208s.

All 208s will be five-door from now on, and they’re entirely new from the boots up, built on the group’s latest platform and boasting both less weight (model for model the 208 is 30kg lighter than the outgoing car despite growing in size ever so slightly) and better aerodynamics.

Plus they all look darned smart, another premium Peugeot design with plenty of cues to tie it in with its bigger brothers but also an unmistakable hint of classic 205 still in the profile. The 208’s strong new face is dominated by a shiny new grille and diagonal strips of daytime running lights.

There’s no word yet of a GTi, but there is a GT Line among the trim options. Alongside the electric model, buyers can choose either a 1.2-litre turbocharged three-pot in 75, 100 and 130PS forms or a 1.5-litre four-cylinder diesel with 100PS. The lowest powered petrol gets a five-speed manual gearbox, the mid-spec petrol either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed auto, the diesel a six-speed manual and the most powerful petrol an eight-speed auto only.

The cabin looks good, with the latest iteration of what Peugeot calls its 3D i-Cockpit, where you peer over the steering wheel rather than through it at the instrument display. Depending on the model you can also get a configurable head-up display, and there’s a colour touch screen (up to 10 inches big). Reassurance for button lovers comes in the form of a row of piano-key-like toggle switches, similar to those you’ll find in the 508, 3008 and 5008, albeit slightly smaller.

Other hi-tech features range from colour-changing interior lighting, through to park assist and a dozy driver warning system, to adaptive cruise control and blindspot monitoring.