Baby Pug 108 "considered" as VW Up rival

While Peugeot’s new 108 sub-compact is no certain starter for Australian release, the brand’s local distributor, Sime Darby, has at least indicated it is “under consideration” – unlike its tiny non-identical twins, the Toyota Aygo and Citroen C1, that have also been shown at Geneva in updated form.

The trio replace their ageing predecessors produced in the Czech Republic via a partnership between PSA, Peugeot and Citroen’s parent company, and Toyota, and given Europe’s burgeoning interest in smaller cars, the new versions have been given vastly different exterior characters to mask their virtually identical underpinnings.

The 108 comes in three and five-door body styles, including one with an open-topped, roll-back roof.

With kerb weights as low as 840kg, and measuring barely 3470mm long the Peugeot 108 is likely to do battle with the VW Up if it comes to Oz. Power comes from either a 1.0-litre triple or a larger 1.2-litre triple with a five-speed manual gearbox or automated single-clutch five-cogger.

Geneva was the first reveal of the 108’s interior, which in upmarket versions features leather trim and vastly more luxury than its bare-boned predecessor.

Whether we’ll get anything too up-spec (if at all) will be an interesting dilemma considering the slow-selling Up has indicated no matter what the badge, Australian buyers seem reluctant to spend big bucks on ultra-small European offerings.