Peugeot at the Ploughing

Peugeot's Irish importer, Gowan Distributors, used the National Ploughing Championships (22nd to 24th - an event that has long been Ireland's unofficial motor show) to launch the updated 208 hatchback and a new commercial vehicle scrappage scheme.

The 208 gets tweaked styling, new colours and updated engines including the new range of 1.2-litre three-cylinder petrol turbo units. Peugeot showed off off the engines, the new matte-finish Ice Grey colour scheme and the new GT-line version, which has sporty, GTi-style looks, but without the concomitant insurance or running costs. There's also a new 1.6-litre BlueHDi diesel option, which recently set a world record fuel economy figure of 141mpg, squeezing 2,152km from a single 43-litre tank of diesel. The new 208 price range starts at €14,845 and you can have one on a 3.9 per cent APR PCP and with a five-year warranty.

Also appearing on the Peugeot stand, alongside such celebrity brand ambassadors as Peugeot Sport rally ace Craig Breen, Kilkenny hurling coach legend, Brian Cody, Tipperary and Wexford hurling captains, Brendan Maher and Matthew O'Hanlon and two celebrated Limerick Senior hurlers, Declan Hannon and Sean Tobin, was the new 508 RXH - not the diesel hybrid as was, but a new version using the rather attractive estate hybrid body but featuring a more conventional 180hp diesel engine with an automatic gearbox. Peugeot Ireland displayed that car at the Ploughing to gauge customer interest and will give more details on prices and specs at a later date.

Meanwhile, there's the commercial range to think of. Peugeot used the Ploughing to launch a new van scrappage scheme, under which customers with vans dating pre-2007 are offered a minimum €3,000 scrappage off the newly launched Peugeot Partner van, a minimum €3,500 off the load-lugging Expert van or a minimum €4,000 scrappage off the Peugeot Boxer.

Emma Toner, Marketing Manager at Gowan Distributors Limited, Peugeot Importers, said: "The National Ploughing Championships has become one of the highlights in our annual calendar of events when we get a chance to talk directly with so many of our existing customers from all over Ireland and meet new prospects. This year our plot is bigger and better than ever and the range has never been so stylish, so young, so good. We very much look forward to a fun-filled week when visitors get the chance to meet a whole host of sporting heroes and to talk to Peugeot experts from all over the country."

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