The Peugeot E-5008 is an adept but ostentatious take on the all-electric SUV

When the Peugeot E-5008 was unveiled this time last year, it added another notch to the EV’s list of category conquests. As the first mid-sized, 7-seater SUV to be purely electrified it was aimed squarely at families, continuing a legacy of hefty wagons and SUVs that date back all the way to the 504 Familiale model of 1971, with its three rows of seat in an elegant Pininfarina-designed body.

Pininfarina and Peugeot have long parted way and the company’s current line-up is proudly designed in house. For a while after the separation, Peugeot’s friends and admirers whispered their alarm and despondency behind the company’s back, as it churned out legions of uninspiring and frankly unattractive models. But sometime during the last decade, Peugeot found its stride and started building elegant cars, big and small, that were true to the company’s past.

However, that run might have reached its natural end. SUVs are not an easy form to give elegant shape to, and while the basic proportions of the E-5008 are acceptable, the devil is in the details. On this occasion, the devil has been a little too busy, with various facets, grooves and chamfers colliding fussily at the corners.

The rear three-quarter view is perhaps the most successful one, with the angled and chromed D-pillar creating a more dynamic side profile. The rear lights, with their triple ‘claw mark’ slashes sit above a deep crease that emphasises height and a more pronounced bustle at the rear of the car.

Contrast this with the front end treatment, where Peugeot’s solution for the SUV’s tall frontal area is to parcel it up into different horizontal zones, starting with the LED lights peeping out from under the bonnet. Beneath this is a dynamic, highly geometric grille surrounding the traditional style Peugeot badge, and below that are twin, nostril like air scoops. It has a certain dynamism, but it’s jagged and discombobulating, rather than sleek and sophisticated.

I have a similar issue with the E-3008’s front end, perhaps put off by the business of that awkward grille form. Perhaps it’s all sour grapes, stung that Peugeot recently decided to kowtow to market forces and discontinue its most elegant model, the 508. SUVs really have won the war in the middle market, with saloons and estate cars relegated to the esoteric choice of a dwindling few.

Spend a bit of time inside the E-5008 and you begin to see why. The interior carries through a lot of that exterior fussiness, only here it’s characterful and admirably different, rather than frustrating. It brings to mind BMW’s most wayward interior approach in the 2010s, yet in places it’s even more extreme, with a wraparound cockpit, tactile cloth upper surfaces and wide, low screen that runs from behind the steering wheel to the middle of the dash.

Peugeot’s trademark small and squarish steering wheel takes a little getting used to. Set low in the dash, it can bisect and obscure a chunk of the main information screen unless you opt for an even lower driving position. This is different and not intuitive, but it’s in line with the car’s more staid and stately character.

The two additional jump seats that bolster the E-5008’s capacity aren’t really for full-sized adults, but they’ll do at a pinch, folding flat into the boot floor when not in use. The middle row folds forward to allow access. Interior space and spec are all first rate, as is the general overall build quality and material feel.

Long range specification cites a max range of 414 miles thanks to the 97kWh battery, but I drove the regular model that ekes a claimed 310 miles from its 73kWh unit. Peugeot is also prepping a 4WD model with a substantial power boost, and there’s also a plug-in hybrid version. All are expensive, especially compared to their ICE equivalents. Handling and performance are more than acceptable and although the battery bulk is well concealed, there's none of the dynamic delicacy that once characterised all Peugeots.

Peugeot’s parent company, Stellantis, has deployed its STLA Medium platform beneath the E-5008. It’s also used in the smaller E-3008 and the equivalent Vauxhall Grandland and will go on to be used in upcoming Citroen, DS, Jeep and Lancia models. The profitable SUV segment benefits most of all from widespread platform sharing.

A company like Stellantis, with its broad portfolio of names, almost has to dip into brand caricature when it comes to differentiate between cars that are very similar under the surface. Unfortunately for Peugeot, the model types that best served the company in the past no longer serve the present. As a result, its design language shouts rather than seduces.

Peugeot E-5008, from £48,660, Peugeot.co.uk