Slinky Pug goes topless

PEUGEOT has released pictures of the new 206 Coupe Cabriolet, so named because it has a steel folding roof similar to the Mercedes SLK and can therefore be driven as either a Coupe or drop-top.

The 206CC is a road-going rendition of the Two-oh-heart concept car shown at the Geneva motor show two years ago and is to be formally launched at September's Paris show.

The new car is a 2+2, as a storage bin for the electro-hydraulically operated roof compromises the otherwise acceptable rear seat room available in the fixed-head 206.

Expected to be available in right-hand drive form later this year, the new car will initially offer 1.6 litre, 82kW or 2.0-litre, 103kW multi-valve engines and manual transmissions. An auto version, using the gearbox from the 306, is expected to be offered later on.

A Peugeot Australia spokesman said the 206CC was a car "we'd love to have" but specifications, pricing and availability were as yet undecided UK prices are expected to be around the 15,000 pounds ($37,000) mark.

Speculation that Peugeot's contract with Inchcape is being renegotiated with a view to Peugeot assuming direct responsibility for the brand was denied as "scurrilous" by new Inchcape MD Trevor Amery.

The Peugeot 607 luxo-sedan is still being considered for Australia - the homologation has been done but a firm decision on bringing in the mid-sized executive express has yet to be made.