“Safety is not a luxury.”
In a brilliant move that will undoubtedly increase the marque’s desirability to families, Peugeot Australia has announced that it has fitted autonomous emergency braking (AEB) to all of its models as standard equipment, increasing the safety credentials of its entire model lineup in one fell swoop, without a price increase on any variant.
“Autonomous emergency braking is a vital safety assist technology and Peugeot Australia is to be commended for this commitment to make AEB standard across its entire Australian model range. Safety is not a luxury, and having AEB as a standard offering provides enhanced safety to consumers.” — James Goodwin, CEO, Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP)
The 208, 308, 2008, and 3008 models will now have AEB across the board, while the incoming 5008 7-seat crossover will complete the Australian lineup very soon, and will also have AEB as standard. In addition to AEB, all Peugeots also offer a reverse camera, which goes quite some way in increasing safety, particularly when reversing out of perpendicular parking spaces.
The new standard AEB system will not be standard in its capability however, as some models will offer AEB with a wider range of capability than others. Presumably, higher-end models will feature full-AEB (where the system can react at well-above highway speeds), while more affordable models will get city-speed AEB. The reason for this is likely down to the hardware (and their associated costs), as affordable Peugeot variants will only utilise a front-facing camera or a front-facing radar module to trigger the AEB, whereas higher-end models will use stereo-cameras or a more advanced radar module, or even both.
There are no price increases for any of the ‘updated’ Peugeot models, with the entry-level 208 Active even taking a $200 price slash, now bringing the sticker price down to a shade under $22,000 (before ORCs). It must be noted however that the 208GTi and 308GTi performance models are not included as part of the update, as neither of these cars are offered with AEB from the factory due to incompatibility.
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