First Look: Peugeot’s Super-Size Me baby

PEUGEOT has released details of its radical 1007.

Set for a public presentation at the Paris Motor Show in September, the one-box three-door-only four-seater hatchback is slated for a mid-2005 Aussie debut.

However this is subject to final confirmation by Peugeot Automobiles Australia, which is continuing market evaluation to determine pricing, positioning and specification levels.

But Peugeot is determined to offer the same full range of passenger cars available in France to local consumers.

In Europe it is aimed mainly at the recent Madrid Motor show-stealing Renault Modus, a next-generation Clio-derived mini-MPV hatch.

If green-lit locally, Peugeot will target Honda’s successful mid-spec $19,990 Jazz VTi light car here.

So expect pricing to be in the $20,000 to $24,000 vicinity.

The French car should have similar or better specification and equipment levels to the Japanese car, which will be nearing its fourth year by then.

Dimensionally the 1007’s length of 3.73 metres makes the 3.83m Honda longer but at 1.71m high the Pug pips the 1.525m Jazz.

Power will come courtesy of a version of the bigger 206’s 82kW/147Nm 1.6-litre double overhead cam 16-valve four-cylinder engine.

The European market 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol and HDI diesels aren’t destined for Australia.

And unlike the Jazz the 1007 will be a quasi auto-only proposition, reflecting its city-car status as well as its progressive design and technology.

It’s the company's first application of the "2-Tronic" gearbox, a controlled manual transmission that offers a fully automated "auto" or a clutchless sequential operated via a floor shift or steering wheel control paddles.

A Peugeot spokesman was unclear as to whether it is a development of the controversial five-speed Sensodrive sequential gearbox found in Peugeot’s sister brand Citroen’s C2 and C3 models.

But this will be overshadowed by the electrically powered sliding side doors, a first for its sector, and easily the car’s most striking feature.

Remotely controlled, the doors slide back for unrestricted access to the 1007’s cabin, particularly in very narrow places where traditional swinging doors can’t be opened.

In this regard Peugeot says the amount of outward space needed for an open door is within the width of the exterior rear-view mirror.

Once inside, passengers have a variety of seating and luggage-storage permutations due to the modularity of the cabin, which allows all four chairs to be positioned independently.

Individual tastes are also catered for thanks to a variety of easily changeable trim, panels and dashboard fascia items like the seat colours and patterns and air vents, Smart city car style.

On the safety front Peugeot says there are class-leading safety equipment, such as the availability of up to seven airbags (including a novel steering column one), three-point Isofix child seat restraints and "good" visibility due to deep windows and a high seating position.

Even though Peugeot isn’t confirming this for now, the 1007 may be built on a platform that is part of the low-cost baby car program partnership with Toyota and Citroen.

Announced in 2001 for a 2005 commencement, the €1.5 billion project will build around 300,000 vehicles a year at the Toyota Peugeot Citroen Automobile Czech (TPCA) plant near Prague, for European consumption.

As Peugeot’s first salvo against a burgeoning new mini-MPV market in Europe, which includes vehicles as disparate in size as the aforementioned Renault, Ford’s Fiesta-derived Fusion, the Opel Corsa/Barina-based Meriva and Fiat’s Punto-related Idea, the 1007 will face fierce rivalry.

It represents the French marque’s first all-new sub-B segment car since the 1991 106, which also spawned the 1996 Citroen Saxo unseen in Australia.

Plus the 1007 oversees the commercial realisation of Peugeot’s new alphanumeric naming system after around three-quarters of a century of sticking to the number-nought-number pattern.

This tops off a number, so to speak, of firsts for the new baby Peugeot.