Car Design News takes a Scandinavian road trip in Peugeot’s new all-electric seven-seater SUV, the e-5008
The Øresund Bridge, which connects Denmark to Sweden, owes its existence to the car. An idea first put forward in the early 20th century, the case for joining the two countries became irresistible following the mass adoption of motorised transport.
Designed by Danish architect Georg Rotn, it was symbolic of Scandinavian pragmatism and woollier ideas around openness. Since opening in 2000, the bridge has captured the imagination of TV producers, musicians and, at a more prosaic level, commuters. The ten or so minutes it takes to drive across it is, if such a thing is possible, low-key spectacular.
The towers, a double-brace of austere concrete batons, are a dizzying display of functionality while the bridge itself tracks a soft curve across the water. The surrounding scenery, low green undulations, offer little drama. Still, there is something novel about crossing national borders in a car.
The car in question is Peugeot’s new all-electric SUV, the E-5008, a seven-seater aimed at what the French OEM characterises as families and ”active empty-nesters”. My companion and I, journeying from Copenhagen to Åhus on the east coast of Sweden via a couple of pit stops, can be described as neither; some projection is required.
Swedes have excellent road manners, partly owing to the unspoken concept of lagom that binds the society together, but also to the inspiring number of speed cameras hidden along the main routes
First impressions, it seems a little stubby for a seven-seater. The spec sheet confirms a 4.79-metre length, shorter than all the main rivals from Volvo, Kia and the like. “We did not want an extra large SUV,” confirms Emmanuel Varene, head of product. Built on the new Stellantis STLA platform, it is edgier than before, with sharpened lines and a higher belt line: the previous iteration encountered criticism for being too MPV-like. It does, however, have MPV-levels of interior space.
“It is prouder,” says exterior designer Maxine Blandin. “And we made it extra jumpy,” he continues, pointing out the semi-circles above the wheel arches, which certainly enhance said proudness. The three-claw lighting signature, transposed from the Inception concept (Blandin worked on that too; the young designer is one to watch) flank the front mask – a gradated explosion emanating from the Peugeot Lion head. The lion’s body was sacrificed in 2021 as part of a rebrand. There are folds and creases here and there, but it all comes together to create a characterful and pretty tight DRG, despite the amount going on. In profile, the high belt line wraps around the rear to form a strong black horizontal band housing the rear lights with a small spoiler for better aerodynamics.
Towns with names so Scandinavian the temptation is to add a Viking suffix. Skurup the Strong, Rydsgard the Ribald, Tomelilla the Tired, pass us by
The first leg of the journey takes us south from Malmö down to the seaside of Badhytten, a place with an uncanny resemblance to the beach from Jaws. Swedes have excellent road manners, partly owing to the unspoken concept of lagom that binds society together, but also to the inspiring number of speed cameras hidden along the main routes. As such, the urge to press on via some more enthusiastic use of the right foot feels inappropriate…and risky.
Still, it is really not that type of car – better to cruise along with everyone else lagom-style. To be fair, the E-5008 is a fine cruiser, drifting along in near monastic silence, but for the passage of wind around the wing mirrors. When you need to put the power down, it happens gradually with no burst of electric speed to puncture the tranquillity. The driving position sits quite high, but the faceted elements and curved screen of the cockpit envelope the driver in a manner that is almost sporty.
Back into the Swedish interior towards Kaseholms art hotel and we are squarely in farmland. Towns with names so Scandinavian the temptation is to add a Viking suffix. Skurup the Strong, Rydsgard the Ribald and Tomelilla the Tired, pass us by.
These settlements emerge from a flat landscape of corn and potato fields divided by well-maintained roads following gentle contours. The E-5008 handles these tracks in a perfectly acceptable manner, decent grip and the tiny steering wheel conspire to make the SUV feel more sprightly than it actually is. Visibility is good too – looking over your shoulder to pull out onto a main road is made all the easier by the rear quarter window.
The 17th century Kåseholm manor, built in the vernacular style, is today an art gallery and events space where we meet Nicolas Brissonneau, exterior design manager. Though somewhat outside of his remit, Brissonneau explains the CMF strategy and how it relates to the interior.
“It is a combination of technical and softness,” he says, referring to a nearby table of samples, which includes materials as well as highly-engineered sports shoes. “It is like the muscles of the lion hidden beneath the softness of the fur.” On a practical level this means the 21-inch screen stretching across the IP is offset by a grey cloth that clothes the centre console. Precise Alcantara fabric on the seats is embossed with the three-claw motif.
It would be instructive to pit the E-5008 against some pothole-ridden English roads for a more rigorous examination
Further connections between inside and out can be found in the central control panel – a boomerang of black gloss and metal echoing the rear mask, which captures the soft-tech theme. The UX seems intuitive enough but of course the climate controls are located on a touchscreen. The comeback of buttons that changing NCAP regs will usher in cannot come soon enough.
The road to our final stop, the seaside town of Åhus, takes us east through small villages with austere Lutheran churches and rusty-hued barns of the sort that feature in American Regionalist paintings. Despite the sporadic appearance of wind turbines, plus the solitary ageing tractor toiling in a field, you sense that not much changes in these parts.
Against this backdrop, the silvery Peugeot looks like it was sent from the future. As if to test the theory, we parked it in front of an old petrol station: a literal interpretation of the EV versus ICE fork in the road at which the developed world currently sits, and took some photos.
Åhus is a small town on the eastern coast of Sweden and the final stop of the journey. The 80 miles or so undoubtedly showed the car in its best light. It would be instructive to pit the E-5008 against some pothole-ridden English roads for a more rigorous examination.
Still, it has a lot of things going for it: the manageable size will appeal to urbanites that need the extra space; it is a comfortable long-distance cruiser should you want to test the veracity of the claimed maximum 410 range; the interior is nicely put together, if a little fussy; and the exterior styling lends the SUV a strong road presence.
Where the design team has been most successful is in carving out enormous amounts of interior space for its potential passengers and, providing you have access to a charger, the car will assuredly be easy to live with: whether you are a family, active empty nester or otherwise.
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