Peugeot 208, 2008, DS 3 Crossback Full Electric Versions Coming
PSA Group's electrification will continue with two fully-electric vehicles coming in 2019. The EV duo won't be engineered from the scratch, but will be based on existing conventional models – the Peugeot 208 and the DS 3 Crossback.
Company executives revealed the manufacturer's plans to investors earlier this week and the information, brought to our attention by Automotive News, was shared by Evercore ISI. According to the report, Peugeot will launch the next generation of the 208 in September 2019, offering it as a 185-mile (approximately 300-kilometer) electric vehicle from day one. Naturally, internal combustion variants will also be available.
A couple of months before that, DS, the luxury brand in PSA's portfolio, will introduce a battery-powered version of the DS 3 Crossback, the successor of today's DS 3. It will be the first of many electrified DS vehicles planned for the next couple of years. Finally, in 2020, Peugeot will reveal PSA's third new all-electric model, an EV version of the 2008 sub-compact crossover.
Meanwhile, the automaker will continue work on its plug-in hybrid vehicle range, which will include three PHEV SUVs, based on the same EMP2 platform – the DS 7 Crossback, Peugeot 5008, and Citroen C5 Aircross. In total, PSA's "Push to Pass" business plan targets no less than seven PHEVs and four pure EVs by 2023.
PSA's current lineup of electric cars includes the Mitsubishi iMiEV-based Citroen C Zero and Peugeot iOn minicars, the Citroen e-Mehari, and the electric versions of the Peugeot Partner and Citroen Berlingo light-commercial vans.
"DS is entering the electrified vehicles scene," Eric Apode, DS Product and Development director, commented earlier this year. "By 2025, more than a third of DS vehicles sold will be hybrid or all-electric. The performance models will be provided by the hybrid versions and the first in the series is DS 7 Crossback E-Tense - the DS vision of hybrid power with 300 hp and a 60-km electric range."
