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On June 8, the new Peugeot 408 made its debut, becoming Dongfeng Peugeot's first model with a new lion logo. The success of the new Peugeot 408 will determine the future development trend of the Peugeot brand in the Chinese market. According to officials, the online booking channel opened for 30 minutes and the number of orders exceeded 10,000.

From the official view, the new Peugeot 408 continues the overseas Peugeot 308 "Lion Soul Aesthetics" styling design, the front face is replaced with the latest family-oriented radial lattice front grille, which is more varied and more aggressive than the current models on sale. In addition, the tusk LED daytime driving lights extend to the lower air intake, combined with long and narrow LED far and near lights to bring fierce visual effects. At the same time, the front enclosure of the new car also uses a flying wing-style heat dissipation opening design, and forms an "X" shape with the front grille, the new lion logo LOGO in the middle of the front is particularly conspicuous, and there is a "408" logo above the hood.

On the side of the body, the overall outline of the new car has not changed much, the waistline of the body is relatively straight, the front door runs diagonally up to the rear, the overall design is smooth and dynamic, the decorative strips of doors and windows embellished with chrome elements and the B-column design of similar piano paint material, improve the quality of the whole car. In the rear part, the taillight group is connected by a black decorative panel to form a penetrating design, while the interior of the taillight is modeled by a 3D light group called "Lion claw LED", and the sports atmosphere of the new car is well displayed through the smoked design. In terms of size, the length, width and height of the new car are 4750/1820/1488mm, the wheelbase is 2730mm, and the positioning compact car is the same as the current model on sale.

In the interior part, the new car will adopt the latest family design style, the layout of the functional area will be redesigned, the physical keys with full metal texture will be retained below, the "T" shaped center console is equipped with a 12-inch full LCD dashboard with a double-spoke multi-function flat-bottomed sports steering wheel, and the 10-inch central control multimedia display uses an embedded design, equipped with Dongfeng Peugeot Blue-i 3.0 intelligent Internet connection system. In addition, the double D steering wheel with suspended central control screen design, the sense of movement and technology compared with the current model has been improved.

In terms of power, the new car will be equipped with a 1.6L turbocharged engine with a maximum power of 125kw and a maximum torque of 250Nm. The transmission system is equipped with Aixin 6-speed manual self-integrated gearbox. As a reference, the models on sale are equipped with 1.2T three-cylinder turbocharged engine and 1.6t four-cylinder turbocharged engine, with maximum power of 100kw and 125kw, peak torque of 230N ·m and 250N ·m respectively, matched with 6-speed double-clutch gearbox and 6-speed manual integrated gearbox.

On May 18, 1992, Shenlong Automobile Co., Ltd. was established. On October 25th, Dongfeng Motor Company and French PSA Group signed a joint venture contract to expand cooperation, which introduced the Peugeot brand into the Chinese market, thus Dongfeng Peugeot was born. According to the official website of Dongfeng Peugeot, the models currently on sale include the new Peugeot 4008, the new Peugeot 5008, the Peugeot 508L and the Peugeot 2008 THE ONE.

Data show that Peugeot 408 is a new model released by Dongfeng Peugeot in January 2010. it is the first global model launched by Peugeot in the Chinese market. at that time, it was all-powerful in the compact car market with the wheelbase of 4680mm, driver and 2710mm, meeting the needs of domestic consumers with large space, and monthly sales were basically stable at more than 5000 units after listing. In August 2014, the second-generation Peugeot 408 officially launched, the new car is based on Peugeot's latest EMP2 modular platform to build the first model, and further lengthened for the body size, (4750pm 1820ppm 1488mm 2730mm) is close to the category of medium-sized cars. However, from this generation of models, Peugeot 408 joined the 1.2T three-cylinder turbocharged engine, which is also one of the first models to use three-cylinder engine in China. In August 2018, the new Peugeot 408 launched, the new car in the appearance of major changes, the power side continues to provide 1.2T three-cylinder turbocharged engine and 1.6t four-cylinder turbocharged engine two power options, the price range is 11.97-169700 yuan.

Since its establishment in 2002, Dongfeng Peugeot has gone through 20 years, but it has long been at the bottom of the valley. The figures show that from January to April 2022, Peugeot sold 4848 vehicles, Peugeot 4008 4457 and Peugeot 208s 3790. At present, Dongfeng Peugeot lacks popular style products, in the final analysis, it is the problem of brand products, and with the gradual decline in sales, resulting in serious losses among many dealers, so that more and more dealers withdraw from the network. Therefore, the biggest problem facing Dongfeng Peugeot lies in product research and development and brand management.

In April 2021, Dongfeng Peugeot announced the launch of the new brand LOGO, the 11th generation lion logo, at the Shanghai Auto Show. From the new brand logo, the new LOGO will only retain the head details of the lion into a shield, the lion shape is also more powerful than the previous version. However, after Dongfeng Peugeot announced the launch of the new lion logo, the biggest complaint was that it was "not as good as the previous generation" and "a little bit of Hengchi". Obviously, Dongfeng Peugeot's biggest problem is not LOGO, but products and brands. According to the plan, Dongfeng Peugeot will accelerate the pace of new product launch, launching new 4008, new 5008, 2022 508L, 2008 THE ONE and other different market segments, but the performance of these models in 2021 is not good. Dongfeng Peugeot wants to revive and avoid a repeat of the tragic situation of the last century, ultimately depends on Dongfeng Peugeot's measures.

In fact, in terms of product performance, the performance of the new Peugeot 408 is OK, but it is not easy to succeed, because of the fierce competition in the compact car market. Volkswagen Suiteng / Bora, Toyota Carola / Leiling, Nissan Xuanyi and so on are its potential competitors. These joint venture models occupy a large number of markets, such as Geely Xingrui, Changan UNI-V, Chuanqi Shadow Leopard and so on. These autonomous models have higher functional configurations. Perhaps, for the Peugeot 408, its biggest advantage may be the price, as long as the price is right, it can certainly sell well, but if it competes with the Carola, Suiteng and other models of the same class, it is estimated that it will not escape a tragic fate.

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