What's the news?
Sitting alongside the rather gorgeous new Peugeot 508 in Irish dealerships early next year will be this, the SW estate version, revealed today but getting a first proper public outing at the Paris Motor Show in October.
Long, low, sleek and with just a hint of Audi about the back end, the SW is 4.7 metres long, but just 1.4 metres high. As with the saloon, the SW gets rather cool frameless door glass, as well as the full-LED lights and those distinctive half-moon LED running lights at the front.
Gilles Vidal, Peugeot Design Director, commented: "The all-new Peugeot 508 SW includes all its quality features but sets itself apart by its sporty stance and design cues that are completely new for a mainstream car producer. It is a wonderful object of desire that makes a clear statement regarding its ambitions."
Inside, there's a very stylish cockpit that uses the small-wheel-high-instruments layout as seen in the 3008 and 5008, but with a rather classier-looking centre console. Digital instruments are standard, and the 508 SW will be available with wraparound massaging seats and a panoramic glass roof.
At the back, in spite of that low roofline and swoopy styling, the boot holds a very decent 530 litres (a Passat or Skoda Superb estate holds much more, but then they are not so stylish as this...) and the rear seats can be folded flat by pulling a lever in the boot, opening up 1,780 litres of space.
Pierre-Paul Mattei, Peugeot 508 Product Design Director, said: "We wanted to design a unique SW with a very strong personality that was perfectly situated at the heart of its segment. The secret of the rear structure performance in terms of compactness and rigidity is the sensible and practical boot with an extremely sleek design. Similarly, the frameless doors provide the perfect response to accessibility in a vehicle with a very low roof line."
On the tech front, you can have a ten-speaker stereo from Focal, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane keeping assistant and night vision.
It's around 70kg lighter, model-for-model than the outgoing 508 SW estate (itself a rather unsung car) and buyers will be able to choose between two petrol models - a 180hp turbocharged 1.6-litre engine and a 225hp version of the same - and four diesels: a 1.5-litre BlueHDi with either 120hp or 130hp and a 2.0-litre engine with 160hp or 180hp, all with either manual or automatic gearboxes.
There's also a new 'freewheeling' function for the automatic petrol models, which operates at speeds of up to 130km/h and which Peugeot says can cut fuel consumption by as much as three per cent.
Irish sales will start in January of next year, and later in 2019 there will be a plug-in hybrid version, which Peugeot says will retain the car's roomy boot (thanks to packaging the batteries under the rear seats) and which will have an electric-only range of up to 50km.