The French ambassador to Malaysia has recently taken delivery of a black Peugeot 408 GT as his new official car over here.
In spite of it only launching locally just a few weeks ago, the new 408 already seems to be a rather strong seller for Peugeot in Malaysia. Over 300 orders have after all since been placed to date for this jacked-up sedan locally, with one of these incidentally even finding its way to quite the high profile customer, in the form of the French ambassador to Malaysia.
Stellantis Malaysia Managing Director Jamie Morais recently had the honour of handing over the keys to a flagship GT-spec 408 to His Excellency Axel Cruau, current Ambassador of France to Malaysia. This Pearl Nera Black-painted Peugeot has been delivered bearing the red number plate 47-01-DC, with the ’01’ indicating for it to be the official ride for the French diplomatic corps locally.
There has thus far been no official word yet on whether any modifications has been performed to this dignitary’s new official ride, with the only visible addition to this diplomatic Peugeot being a flag pole on its front left wing that is currently proudly flying the Tricolore. The red plates on this particular 408 GT also naturally sees for it to currently be exempt from any registration fees or road taxes, in addition to any import duties, which is sort of redundant for this locally-assembled model.
The Peugeot 408 GT has not only gotten the nod of approval from the ambassador, but also the more impartial DSF team as well. Such is as this particular French sedan has recently clinched the overall vehicle of the year 2024 award, with the judges being blown away by its stylish design and dynamic handling.
This latest addition to the Peugeot lineup locally arrives in 3 trim levels: Allure, Premium and GT, with prices ranging from RM 146,000 to RM 196,000. All three variants are powered by the same 1.6L turbocharged PureTech 4-cylinder and an 8-speed automatic transmission powertrain pairing that drives solely its front wheels, with the 218 PS and 300 Nm of torque it delivers supposedly good enough to deliver a century sprint time of 8.8 seconds.
Differentiating the exterior of the flagship GT variant from its two lower-tier counterparts are to be automatic matrix LED headlamps and 3D ‘claw effect’ LED tail lamps, with this trim being the only one to feature the rather cool-looking 20-inch Monolithe black alloy wheels as well. Among the exclusive kit featured within meanwhile includes a 10-speaker Focal Premium sound system with a 12-channel 690W amplifier and ARKAMYS digital sound processing, a 3D quartz version of its digital instrument cluster and configurable i-Toggle controls on a separate screen below its central infotainment display.
One final interesting point to make regarding this new official French ride here is for it to prove a previously made point that this Peugeot to be one of the most affordable ways right now to look properly classy. No self-respecting dignitary will like to see themselves be photographed getting out of a Civic or Corolla after all, but there is no such qualms from doing the same in this (somewhat) similarly-priced 408…
