Coupe madness

At this autumn's international motor show in Paris, Peugeot are presenting a prototype four-door coupe. From the first photos, it looks pretty hot. Positioned above the 407, this concept car represents Peugeot's answer to the recently unveiled Passat CC and it could be realised on the platform of the upcoming 408. Mercedes High Command probably didn't foresee the avalanche they were triggering with the CLS.

However, it's a far cry from being a coupe. In fact, it's little more than a dynamically styled saloon car, which is in itself a perfectly adequate definition. But instead of that, we seem to be allowing the marketing strategists to persuade us that a reduced-length family run-about is a four-door coupe (which is why they've given it a CC suffix, just so the customer knows what distinguishes it from the bourgeois saloon).

It's a sad state of affairs when a coupe is defined by nothing more than a plunging roof line. A real coupe has two doors and is entitled to be a tad impractical. End of story. A lot of manufacturers seem to think they've come up with the legendary 'egg-laying, wool-bearing, milk-producing, bacon-yielding beast'. They call it 'crossover'.