Peugeot makes more folding hard-top convertibles than any other brand – so it should come as no surprise that the French are developing a 308 CC complete with balletic, disappearing roof. CAR’s spies caught this prototype testing in Scandinavia as the engineers make sure everything – not least that metal roof – works in the winter chill.
We won’t see the 308 CC until summer 2009; Peugeot isn’t rushing the different bodystyles of the 308 and development is likely to be slower than the 207, we hear.
A Peugeot 308 with a folding roof… will it actually work?
Hopefully. Early 206 CCs were blighted with problem roofs, but those cars were built by Heuliez and Peugeot has brought the new 207 CC roof system inhouse. Today’s 307 CC is engineered by roof specialist ATS and we expect the 308 CC pictured here to be built by Peugeot alone, probably at its Sochaux factory in France.
Insiders who’ve seen the 308 CC describe it as an elegant vehicle, with a strong resemblance to the 308 RC Z concept car that will eventually spawn a mini-TT coupe later in 2009/2010. The nose in particular is strikingly similar, we understand.
Peugeot is increasingly introducing high-tech gizmos on its cars, and the 308 CC will continue to pilfer gadgets from the ranks of luxury car makers. It’s developing a seat heating system akin to Mercedes’ Airscarf for the 308.
How many convertibles does Peugeot actually sell?
As I said, Peugeot builds more folding hard-tops than anyone else globally – and 165,000 of them were the 307 CC last year. Just 5 percent of 307s sold in the UK are the CC and there’s little reason to doubt it can repeat those sales with the newcomer. However, the market is increasingly crowded now, with VW’s Eos and Focus CC all nibbling into sales of the earlier French entrants.