Peugeot Design Director Gilles Vidal, 45, has been crafting the look and feel of the French brand's cars for nearly a decade. His latest creation is the new 508, which he calls a "two-and-a-half-box" fastback. He explained what that means and shared insights on some of the car's key interior features during a chat with Automotive News Europe Correspondent Peter Sigal.
Q: Why did Peugeot make the new 508 a hatchback rather than a conventional three-box sedan? Hatchbacks once signaled a less-upmarket car.
A: I think that is changing. Because we wanted a more dynamic looking car, we went with a fastback, or a "two-and-a-half box." If we had made a normal trunk, the opening would have been way too small. So we said: How about if we open the hatch all the way to the roof? Having a hatchback has made the car very practical — it has a huge trunk.
The 508 has a very small steering wheel, piano key-style controls, a higher instrument panel and a smaller touch screen than might be expected. What was the thinking behind these features?
The new 508 is 51mm (2 inches) lower than the old model. You have to pile up air vents, tactile screens, buttons, a console with storage and within a low car there's only so much you can do before you block your field of vision. One choice we made in this car is to have really good performing air vents, and to have a bigger screen would have meant smaller air vents. You have to carefully consider each layer of the interior. The piano key controls are easier for women with long nails to navigate than tactile sensor controls, for example.