THE world’s first diesel electric car is about to go on sale – with the promise of up to 74 miles per gallon.

Add to that no road tax and the flexibility of four-wheel-drive when needed and it seems Peugeot is setting the standard for others to follow.

The new Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4 uses a 2.0-litre, 163bhp diesel engine to drive the front wheels and a 37bhp electric motor to power the rear, ensuring both economy and the sporting response of a 200bhp performance hatchback.

Until now all hybrids have used petrol engines, but mating an electric motor to a diesel engine gives the potential for bumper economy and low running costs.

The 3008 HYbrid4 has a clever drive system which determines when the car should be operating on the diesel engine only, the electric motor only or a combination of both to give the best economy or performance – depending upon how the individual drives.

There are four modes to select from but if you leave the system in auto this car achieves the best all-round compromise for normal driving.

If, however, you need that extra grip in bad weather you can switch to 4WD so both diesel and electric motors work permanently in tandem to power all four wheels. The same happens when you switch to Sport, for maximum power.

It’s also possible to drive this vehicle on electric power only, which is ideal for towns and cities although you are limited to 40 miles per hour and a range of three to four miles.

The car uses an electronically-controlled six-speed manual gearbox which, while it allows you to change gear using the gear shift or paddles behind the steering wheel, I found was best left in automatic mode both for convenience and better economy.

On the move the dashboard display screen shows you exactly where the power is coming from at any given time and just how much charge there is in the battery. Should the battery get low, however, the alternator force feeds it using power from the diesel engine so you never have a situation where the battery is completely flat.