This comes after winning overall car of the year 2020 in Europe earlier this year.
PEUGEOT’s compact best seller got the highest scores among all imported cars nominated in this 2020 Japanese car of the year event. Being judged side by side with its European rivals BMW, Audi and Land Rover, PEUGEOT managed to take the top award for both its battery powered 208 hatchback and the petrol version of the 208.
This is not the first award for the PEUGEOT 208. Earlier this year, it won the European Car Of The Year 2020 award which shocked all of its rivals and then it won the Most Dependable Volume Brand in the annual J.D. Power UK Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), followed by the ‘Best Electric Car’ award at the Business Car Awards, What Car awards and also the Autocar awards. It also took home the 2020 Red Dot Award in the ‘Product Design’ category.
PRESS RELEASE: The Japan-COTY Commission comments this Award as below: “The reason why this Price was awarded is that PEUGEOT 208 and e-208 had realized a high-class elegant driving sensation thanks to the combination between its body with high rigidity and the smooth suspension. Moreover, the handling for the Driver is excellent, because it allows him to make an excellent cornering drive at his ease.
With a high content of interior design and its precise and refined finish of the whole, this Model was highly appreciated for its availability under EV-version, e-208, having all the rich torque function of smooth start that we can see with its gasoline version. Its retail price of less than 4 million JPY for this EV version is also another factor to appreciate the advantages of this Model.”
The 208 and e-208 are the compact hatch-backs with PEUGEOT heritage, with stylish and condensed contents of exterior design, and with 3D i-Cockpit® adopted to prove both functionality and the Brand’s elaborate interior design, providing UI and UX which lead automotive industry, with its exciting driving realized thanks to the new generation platform CMP (Common Modular Platform) of Groupe PSA.
Moreover, thanks to this CMP, the concept of “Power of Choice” is appealed to the market, allowing to propose cars both under Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) and under full-electric version (BEV) at the same time. The overall Ownership cost within 3 years under 30,000 Km driving mileage are more or less at the same level between the 208 and e-208 (calculated under internal simulation), which means that it will be possible to purchase an BEV under almost the same cost as to purchase an ICE vehicle.
This time, we are proud to know that the arrival of PEUGEOT e-208 under an affordable price was appreciated by the COTY jury, with its potential to promote more the “electrification” in Japan.
Thomas Vilcot, Representative Director and CEO of Groupe PSA Japan Co., Ltd., comments about this Award as below: “We are very glad and honoured to receive such a prestigious Price, the best Imported car in the framework of Japan-Car Of The Year Award. This year, all the nominated cars in COTY award were nice. In such a condition, NEW PEUGEOT 208 and e-208 were so nicely finished that they deeply impressed all the journalists, which we all are proud of. Also, with the introduction of the NEW e-208 in the Japanese market, we are sure to have played a great role, as an import Car Maker in japan, to offer an “BEV under an affordable price” to many customers.
Through this Award of Import Car Of the Year by COTY-Japan, we wish that many customers will feel our Brand’s concept of POWER OF CHOICE which allows them to choose freely their cars depending on their life style, ether with internal combustion engine (ICE) or with electric motor.”
The 208 and e-208 have been already awarded with many prices such as Car Of The Year in Europe, Red Dot Design, which also proves their good global sales performance. Since its launch in Japan in July, this new Model benefits from a big success by a large public with different profiles, making already a great performance with cumulative sales of 1,923 units (of which 1,818 of 208 and 105 of e-208) as of December 6th.
This year, the Brand celebrates its 210th Anniversary, and it is a great honour at this timing for the Brand to be awarded with the best Imported Car Of The Year in Japan. As far as we, Groupe PSA Japan, are concerned, our mission to provide the mobility with UNBORING THE FUTURE concept to the Japanese customers will be pursued and appealed even stronger with this Award.
