Back in November Peugeot began taking orders for its iOn electric car, which is of course a Mitsubishi i-Miev electric car with a silver lion stuck to its nose. The first iOns are due to be delivered towards the end of this year, alongside the similarly badge-engineered C-Zero from sister brand Citroen.

Welcome as the iOn is, it seemed both timid and half-hearted when compared with fellow French maker Renault’s electric ambitions, which are both fully formed and imminent. Renault plans to market four different pure-electric vehicles in the next 24 months, starting early in 2011.

Now it has become clear that Peugeot’s electric car intentions extend beyond buying job lots of badge adhesive. Today the company confirmed that it intends to create a production version of the BB1 show car, which was well received when it was unveiled in September last year. “Peugeot has now decided to design and build a vehicle which will embody all of the spirit of the BB1: 2.5m, 4 seats and 100% electric,” the company said. For which we should read, the upcoming car will be the same size as the BB1 but is unlikely to share its garden-shed-in-a-gale styling theme.

We await word on when the production BB1 might hit the road.