The semiconductor shortage has claimed a victim.
Peugeot Citroen Australia has opted to discontinue the current 308 instead of releasing a planned update.
“Due to the semiconductor shortage that is impacting the automotive industry, there will be a gap in availability of the Peugeot 308 in Australia until the new generation arrives in Q1, 2022,” said a spokesperson from local distributor Inchcape.
The updated 308 was set for a launch in the second quarter of this year.
While it was also set to include a new surround for its touchscreen, a new paint colour, and new wheel designs, the headline feature was set to be the 10.0-inch i-Cockpit digital instrument cluster.
For European-market models, Peugeot will instead fit analogue instruments per a report from Reuters.
That frees up chips for more popular models like the 3008.
Peugeot sold 125,440 3008 crossovers in Europe last year against 90,324 308 hatchbacks and wagons.
In Australia, there was an even greater gap: the 3008 was Peugeot’s best-seller with 881 sales, while the 308 logged 218 sales.
The 308 has already been removed from Peugeot’s Australian website.
The range was pared back considerably last year, with the warm GT and hot GTi axed.
That left just one wagon and two hatchback variants, all powered by a 96kW/230Nm turbocharged 1.2-litre three-cylinder engine.
Pictured: 2022 Peugeot 308
Peugeot has said the new 308, which rides on an updated version of the current car’s EMP2 platform, won’t include a replacement for the GTi.
It will, however, feature a plug-in hybrid powertrain, though the local line-up has yet to be revealed.
Peugeot has confirmed, however, it’s bringing plug-in hybrid variants of the 3008 and 508 to Australia later this year.
In Europe at least, there’ll be two plug-in hybrid powertrains available in the 308.
The first combines a 132kW petrol engine with an 81kW electric motor, and has 59km of electric range on the WLTP test cycle from its 12.4kWh battery pack.
The second has a 110kW petrol engine instead of the 132kW unit, and offers 60km of all-electric motoring.
The new model has a 55mm longer wheelbase than before, most of which Peugeot says has been dedicated to providing more legroom for rear seat passengers.
There’s a 10.0-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system, plus a full range of active safety assists.
These include semi-autonomous lane change for the adaptive cruise, long-range blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, driver attention monitoring, traffic sign recognition, lane-keeping assist, and automatic high-beam.
