They used to be a really big deal, cars like the Peugeot 508 and its sort, the Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Insignia, Renault Laguna. You know the type: big D-segment saloons and wagons, doyennes of company car fleets, discounted and flogged out to them for the sales reps. Nostalgic for those days? Suit jacket in the back window? Sales samples in the boot? Thirty-thousand motorway miles a year? Jumpers for goalposts? Mmm. Isn’t it?

Anyway, that was then, and this is now, and know this: Peugeot CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato doesn’t care. Doesn’t care, in fact, if you buy a Peugeot 508 at all. Seriously, he literally just told me as much: “The 508 will not affect my profit-and-loss,” he said. “Sixty per cent of profit is SUVs [and another 30% is in commercial vehicles], so I don’t need 50% of revenue from fleets, it’s not important. I don’t care. If I’m killing the pricing, then I’m killing the residual value.”

Presumably he does care, a bit. This ‘D-segment’ – conservative saloons – is, worldwide, still one of the three most important market sectors. They love a boring big saloon in China, and even though we’ve gone off them in Europe, people still buy 1.5m of them a year here. But what he means is: he’s not going to beg you to buy a 508 by discounting it heavily through fleets. You want one? You buy one. You don’t? Fine, we’re not going to beg.

Already, apparently, for those who are more au fait with spreadsheets and residual value figures than I am, this approach is paying off. Peugeot has designed the 508 to be interesting to look at, to drive, and you’ll buy it in quantities that overcomes Europe’s perennial saloon oversupply problem. All of which sounds entirely reasonable.

Interesting to look at? I think so. Still a bit nosey, but it’s shorter than the 508 it replaces. At 4.75m long it’s quite a lot shorter than a Ford Mondeo and Skoda Superb (both pushing 4.9m). It’s low, too; at 1.4m a good couple of centimetres lower than most of the competition despite being on the same architecture as Peugeot’s bigger ‘008 SUVs. And now it’s a hatchback, albeit with a saloony rear deck, rather than being a straight saloon. Although they won’t use the word hatchback: instead it’s a fastback, or a five-door coupe-saloon, y’know, come on, it’s got frameless windows and everything.

OK, I’ll buy it: it’s a fastback now and there’ll be a station wagon (estate) later. What’s the catch, given the newfound compactness and rakishness? Well, although rear legroom is good and headroom reasonable, the boot’s 487 litres is more Audi A5 Sportback than Mondeo or Superb.

So Peugeot’s choice has not been to go big, it has been to go … what, premium? Kinda. While you can have any of a Mondeo, Superb or Insignia for under £20,000, no 508 is under £25,000 in the UK, it goes up to £37,000, and Imparato thinks most will be bought in the top two trim levels. Given that, and that more than two-thirds of them will still be bought by fleets, residuals will need to be solid. Which, possible though it might be, would be a something of a turn-up for a big French saloon, n’est-ce pas?

All 508s get a decent amount of tech and software, though mechanically they’re more straightforward: steel monocoque, with MacPherson struts at the front and a multi-link setup at the rear. Engines are 179bhp and 221bhp turbo 1.6-litre petrols, a 129bhp 1.5-litre diesel, and 161bhp and 174bhp 2.0 diesels. Only the 1.5 diesel gets a six-speed manual: the others can only be had with an eight-speed auto. Part electrification comes later but Peugeot is mostly eyeing efficient internal-combustion to get to the low CO2 averages it needs to by 2020.

We’ve tried the most powerful petrol and diesel, both on adaptive dampers - standard on top-spec GT models, optional otherwise. Imparato is bullish about the way the 508 drives. “If you drive this car you’ll buy it,” he says. Let’s see.

Is Peugeot’s i-cockpit getting better, or am I just getting used to it? I think the latter. On its consistent theme, the 508 has a very small steering wheel, with the idea that you’ll be able to read the dials above it. It feels quite karty. In most Peugeots, the rim obscures the dials, but in here, it’s fine, though you’ll set the wheel lower than usual. The driving position is otherwise good.

Fit and finish is pretty high, with more visual flair than you’ll find in a VW-group car, or a Ford or Vauxhall, and the feeling of quality that’s in the mix for the class. There’s a touchscreen in the centre, with shortcut buttons on the dash below it. That’s sensible, but the need to stabilise your hand by resting a wrist or thumb somewhere while you use the screen means it’s a little less clever than it looks.

The electronic gearlever, though, and the generous three-turn between locks steering and fine turning circle suggest an easygoing nature, as does the muted backbeat of the 2.0 diesel I drive first.

So too is the ride. There are modes (obvs), and in comfort the 508 mooches along pretty agreeably. It’s pretty well damped, with the occasional thud around town but with equal to any of the competition, I reckon. The steering’s light, positive, but with a consistency to its weight and response that means its lack of ultimate accuracy and involvement passes you by. It’s pretty pleasant. There was a time when Peugeots were consistently among the best cars in their class to drive; not just the GTis that crusty old beardies like me swoon over, but normal 306 estates with normal petrol engines. I have a feeling it’d like to get back there.

On twistier roads, then, the 508 changes direction agreeably. Body control is good, roll is deftly controlled, and it all does what you ask it to with more involvement than, say, a VW Passat or Vauxhall Insignia, but less than a Mondeo or a rear-drive German car.

Switch the dampers to Sport and you hesitate: is it worse, is it better? To Peugeot’s credit, there’s little detriment to the ride, but tighter body control to go with heavier steering and a more responsive powertrain. Some company’s management would want the difference to be more marked. The 508 is better for it that it’s not.

The 1.6-litre petrol is more engaging again, mind. It’s still short of being a car that I’d choose to sell on its dynamics, but it’s 1575kg rather than 1683kg, and that’s evident in an extra dose of agility. Away from town, the auto – smooth though it is – is frequently on the hunt for the right ratio in the petrol.

Decide to take control via the paddles and you realise why: below 2500rpm the engine’s not overly interested, and it feels like there are a couple of flat spots if you accelerate through the range; which is maybe what happens when you want 221bhp from 1.6-litres. It only emits 131g/km of CO2 on its drive cycle, but if our experience is anything to go by, don’t expect much over 30mpg rather than the near-50 the combined cycle says.

The market is shifting away from diesel (it used to be 92% on fleet sales), but some of those who give it up – this isn’t just a Peugeot related issue, clearly – are going to get a surprise.

The noise levels of both petrol and diesel are restrained, though, as is road and wind roar. This is a good motorway car; stable, comfortable, although lane-keep assist and adaptive cruise, if you get ‘em, were a bit jumpy.

Look, if the boss of the company says he doesn’t care, why the hell should I? Only he does, really (me too), but he has to keep up the mantra – end massive discounting, boost residuals, and finally you’ll have a car that, month-by-month, which is actually how people pay for cars, is competitively priced.

Sure, you might sell fewer of ‘em, but you’ll actually make money on those you do sell rather than punting them onto hire car fleets.

Anyway, all of that is his problem. Yours? Whether to choose it. There are bigger cars. There are more fun cars. There are more premium-feeling cars. There are certainly more premium-badged cars, and there are SUVs too, which is back to where we came in: the 508 is obviously none of those.

I’ve always thought that a car in this segment really needs to give you a reason to buy one. The premium stuff has the right badge on the nose. A Mondeo is really good to drive, though this is better than the rest. A Skoda Superb is vast at the money, although the accommodation is actually fine.

The 508, then, isn’t stacked with reasons you should definitely go out and buy one. But, then, nor does it give you the remotest reason not to. I quite like it. You might not. That’s fine. They’re not going to try and force you, and I like that even more.

Peugeot 508 2.0 Blue HDI 180 GT specification

Where France Price £36,400 On sale October Engine 4 cyls, 1997cc, diesel Power 174bhp at 3750rpm Torque Not stated Gearbox 8-spd automatic Kerb weight 1683kg Top speed 146mph 0-62mph 8.3sec Fuel economy 60.1mpg CO2 124g/km Rivals Ford Mondeo, Skoda Superb