SPY PICS: Puggy prototype preempts concept

It's clear that Peugeot is embarked on bringing the 508 to production at the earliest opportunity. Why else would it reveal images of a design study weeks before said concept car is due to be unveiled at the Geneva motor show?

And how else would you explain pre-production cars undergoing cold-climate testing out in the open, months ahead of the marketing analysts collating all the feedback and public reaction to the design study?

The master spy photographers at Carparazzi claim the cars caught here are definitely pre-production versions of the 508, the car understood to be the replacement for both the current 407 and larger 607 models.

According to Carparazzi, the production models will embrace high-tech features such as a head-up display and adaptive headlights, but as we've already revealed in our story on the '5 by Peugeot' concept, the production cars are likely to offer an all-wheel drive diesel/electric hybrid system too.

Given the timing, either the concept is running late and should have been unveiled in, say, Frankfurt last year -- before the pre-production models were built by hand! -- or Peugeot is breaking all records bringing the 508 to market.

Pity the poor marketing bods, slaving over 'Yes, I intend to buy within 12 months' responses when someone higher up in the Peugeot hierarchy says with Gallic indifference to their indenture: "No, we'll build it anyway!"

-- with Carparazzi

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