The new Peugeot 408 marks a further step in the Marque's offensive on the world's foremost automobile market. Despite being present on the Chinese market for 5 years only, the Peugeot Marque sold over 410 000 vehicles in 2009. This corresponds to a 44% sales increase compared with its 2008 performance.
Following its fine performance in the M1 segment with the success of the 307 saloon and the 307 notch-back, of which 3,522,800 have been produced worldwide, Peugeot is now quite legitimately embarking on a Chinese market offensive with its new Peugeot 408
This new prestigious notchback tailored for the Chinese market will serve to reinforce Dong Feng Peugeot's product offer on the M1 segment that accounts for over 45 % of the total market.
In this manner, the new Peugeot 408 should enable the Lion Marque to increase its sales volumes by over 30% in 2010, compared with 2009, and thereby to grow at twice the forecast pace of the market.
This half-height architecture notch-back saloon has been designed and developed jointly by Peugeot's Styling teams in Europe and China and meets three objectives: embody the Marque's modernity, guarantee maximum safety and offer unrivalled interior space.
The 408 name follows the Lion Marque's traditional naming logic. The figure 4 refers to the size of the car (4.68 m) and its positioning in the medium-luxury family saloon segment. The 0 in the middle signifies that it belongs to the Peugeot Marque, while the 8 expresses the vehicle generation.
With this name, the Peugeot 408 naturally falls into place within the current Peugeot range and becomes the forerunner of the 8 series, the latest generation vehicles to be launched on the Chinese market.
The Dong Feng Peugeot 408 is the fruit of work by the joint venture set up between PSA Peugeot Citroën and the Chinese group DFM. The car is being produced at the Wuhan plant in Hubei province in China. It is positioned to become one of the market's benchmark vehicles with a full-year sales target of 100,000 units.
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