The recent news that the axe is going to fall on the iconic GTi badge (at least as far as Peugeot models are concerned - we still have the VW Golf GTi) is going to be sad news for fans of Peugeot hot hatches.
Admittedly the current 207 GTi isn't the most amazing hot hatch, but the revelation that Peugeot is going to focus on 'premium coupes' instead of producing a successor to the 207 GTi (after all, it could always become the next great Pug hot hatch, couldn't it?) is a real tragedy.
What it also happens to be is a chance to remember the good times. So here, in pictures (and a few words), is the story of the Peugeot GTi:
The GTi moniker did exist before Peugeot got its hands on it - Maserati did a GTi version of this 3500GT in the early 1960s,
and VW Golf GTi appeared in 1977...
...But it was 1984 before Peugeot slapped the GTi badge onto a three-door 205 and fitted a 105bhp 1580cc XU5J engine, along with a thoroughly sweet gearchange
The 128bhp 1.9-litre version arrived in 1986
The 309 GTi landed in 1987, with a bigger body and much more stable handling
Things went a bit quiet on The GTi front until the six-speed, 167bhp 306 GTi-6 appeared in 1996 to replace the S16
The underrated 106 GTi also joined Peugeot's hot hatch ranks in 1996
Peugeot had a flurry of GTi mania immediately following the early success of the 205, with the 1984 604 GTi. Iinterior pic is a GTi...
...though the exterior is, er, not...
Peugeot also came up with a 505 GTi in 1985
Sister company Citroen had its smattering of Gti offerings, too, with the boxy BX GTi, Visa GTi and this, the light-but-tinny AX GTi.
The most recent additions to the family tree have been the largely unloved 206 GTi...
...and the equally average 207 GTi
And that, as far as the Pug GTi goes, really is 'FIN'
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