"908 HDi FAP" reads as follows: 908 deals with the 90x series for racing cars at Peugeot; HDi is the acronym for [English] "High Pressure Direct Injection" (French: Injection directe à haute pression) and FAP is the acronym for [French] "Filtre à particules" (English: particulate filter").

At the 2008 1000 km of Silverstone, Peugeot Sport unveiled the 908 HY, a hybrid electric variant of the diesel 908,[4][5] with KERS.

[6] As part of new rules announced by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) on 16 June 2006 which encouraged closed cockpit Le Mans Prototypes, Peugeot unveiled the 908 with a closed cockpit, the first Le Mans Prototype (LMP) since the Bentley Speed 8 to race with such a design.

[7] Peugeot also felt that weight, centre of gravity, and operational drawbacks were able to be overcome by better chassis rigidity and aerodynamics with using a closed cockpit design.

The body is a carbon fibre monocoque instead of a conventional open structure to offer better rigidity and lower weight.

The Peugeot 908 is powered by a 5.5 L (340 cu in) HDi diesel engine, the maximum size allowed by Le Mans Prototype rules.

The electro-pneumatic controlled gearbox, designed and built by Ricardo,[10] is longitudinal with a maximum of 6 gear ratios, and the differential is self-locking.

The electric motor can be used to provide extra power to the car for approximately 20 seconds, either automatically or through driver activation.

On January 10, 2007, at the 908's first public test at the Paul Ricard HTTT, Peugeot confirmed that the drivers of the 908 would be Stéphane Sarrazin, Nicolas Minassian, Marc Gené, and Pedro Lamy for the Le Mans Series, while Jacques Villeneuve and Sébastien Bourdais would be added for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Peugeot 908 made its race debut at the opening round of the 2007 Le Mans Series season, the 1000km of Monza.

On the 3rd of June 2007, Peugeot managed to best the Audi R10 TDI diesel, setting a Le Mans test day lap time of 3:26.707.

In the race, where the cars competed directly for the first time, the Audi R10s were obviously faster than the Peugeots on the straights and much more stable in the corners.

[12] When the stricken car reached the pits for the second time, Peugeot mechanics made no effort to resolve its problems and simply withdrew it from the race.

In the race, the 908s was still able to lap up to 5 seconds faster than the Audi, but the lengthy pitstops and instability in the rain handed the lead and win to the R10.

Peugeot finished their season at the 1000 km of Silverstone, but their streak of LMS race wins ended after two accidents involving both cars.

The sole 908 qualified in pole position and led several times over the race, but finished only 4.5 seconds behind the North American Audi team.

Proving its reliability compared to the 908's engine issues, Audi's revised R15 TDI plus swept the podium while breaking a new distance record previously set in 1971, despite the four 908s ran faster in a single lap than any of the three R15s.

[16][17] This race was also run in perfectly dry weather allowing for incredibly fast qualifying-pace lap times.

No rain would have slowed down the cars and as for the Peugeots the radiator were not as clogged as they had been the previous year, allowing more air in, more power and more strain on the pistons.

At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 908 HDi FAP run by Oreca finished the race fifth behind the three new factory Peugeot 908s and the winning Audi R18.