Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4 review

The world's first-ever diesel/electric hybrid passenger car, the Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4, goes on sale this autumn. Is it worth the wait?Former General Motors boss Fritz Henderson described making petrol hybrid cars as “expensive squared. But making diesel hybrids,” he added, “now that’s expensive cubed.”

So welcome to the world’s first diesel/electric hybrid car, an expensively cubist creation from Peugeot-Citroën. First shown in Paris last year, this new driveline goes on sale in the 3008 SUV in November and in the following five months will appear in the 508 range and the RXH, an upmarket all-road estate. Yet even as it was being launched, rivals were muttering darkly that the Peugeot would be noisy and smelly.

Early drives of the prototype 3008 Hybrid4 were certainly the former, with graunches from the driveline and little evidence that it would be any more economical than a half-decent petrol/electric hybrid. Diesel hybrids haven’t been used outside of the locomotive and heavy-plant industries because the fuel economy advantages over a petrol hybrid have been tiny. There’s also the fact hybrid cars are principally designed for urban driving in countries that don’t like diesels; think Japan and the United States.

So this is the first European hybrid, if you like. Under the bonnet is a standard 161bhp, 2.0-litre turbodiesel attached to a robotised manual six-speed transmission driving the front wheels. A hefty 8kW generator recharges the nickel-metal hydride battery, which lives in the back along with a 36bhp AC electric motor driving the rear wheels.

This provides four-wheel drive without the heavy transfer boxes, propeller shafts and differentials of a mechanical system. Not that a 3008 will do much mountain climbing, but it’s difficult to see many drivers not being attracted to the idea of 200bhp and fleet managers spurning the fiscal advantages of 99g/km emissions of CO2 with the all-weather capability of four-wheel drive.