French marque Peugeot has made a re-entry into the Malaysian market, after parent company Stellantis took back control of the brand from its second distributor in three years. Marking the local relaunch of the brand is the 408, which has gestated from a 308-with-a-boot that it used to be into a standalone fastback crossover.

Three variants make landfall today in the form of the 408 Allure, 408 Premium and 408 GT. All three models are built in Gurun, and will command pricetags of RM146,055, RM166,055 and RM196,055 respectively. 

The new 408 is built on the Stellantis EMP2 platform, and is quite a sizeable machine. Measuring in at 4,687mm in length, 1,859 in width and 1,487mm in height, sitting on a 2,787mm wheelbase and a noteworthy 189mm of ground clearance. This measures up favourably with other C-segment contenders like the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla Altis, but Stellantis insists that the 408 sits “in a class of its own.”

The French crossover isn’t holding back in terms of specifications – all cars get full LED headlights & taillights as standard, but only the top-spec GT gets Matrix LED units. Wheel sizes start at 18” Granite Black units for the Allure, rising to 19” Granite Black dual-tone units for the Premium, before topping out with 20” Monolithe Black units for the GT. Notably, only the lower two variants get a spare tyre – the GT makes do with a tyre repair kit. 

Other exterior items include a chrome grille for Allure & Premium variants while GT rocks a body-colour unit instead.

The cabin is also well-specified with standard ‘leather’ upholstery, though the keener-eyed will notice that the Allure packs faux leather, the Premium gets full real leather, and the GT is offered with Nappa leather. Only the two top models get electrically-adjustable front seats (with memory & massage function for the GT), as the Allure makes do with a manual pew for the front passenger. 

Further standard specification includes a 10-inch i-Cockpit display, with the GT offering a 3D Quartz version of the system. You also get a 10-inch HD colour infotainment system as standard but again, the GT upgrades this with an i-Toggle system beneath (essentially a secondary touchscreen with configurable shortcuts). 

Audio is also where the cars differ, with Allure & Premium models making do with 6-speakers while the GT gets a 10-speaker Focal Premium audio system. The GT also sports a cabin air-cleaning system, but all cars offer wireless phone charging and a bevy of USB ports front and rear. 

Stellantis Malaysia says that safety shouldn’t be a luxury, and they’re putting their money where their mouths are with the 408. Standard kit includes autonomous emergency braking, electronic stability program with hill-start, high-beam assist and traffic sign recognition, tyre-pressure monitoring, a 180º reverse camera, active bonnet pedestrian impact protection, and six airbags. 

Step up into the Premium and you gain (in addition to the Allure) things like advanced traffic sign recognition, front parking sensors, adaptive cruise control, upgraded autonomous emergency braking (we haven’t a clue what this entails), blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. This is also carried into the GT, which gains the adaptive Matrix LED lights we mentioned earlier. 

The 408 can be had in Obsession Blue, Perla Nera Black, Okenite White, and Artense Grey. It’s a bit of a headache but the Allure doesn’t get Obsession Blue, the Premium gets all four colours, and the GT doesn’t get Artense Grey. Makes sense? 

To combat perception around the brand, the Peugeot 408 will be sold with a 7-year/200,000km warranty. However, only 3-years is a manufacturer warranty and the following 4-years is from Stellantis Malaysia (which crucially will mirror the manufacturer warranty). 

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GALLERY – 2024 PEUGEOT 408 GT