Thursday 15th April 2010

Peugeot Will Resurrect GTI Badge For The 208

Back from the grave - GTI badge won't die after all

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Will the 208 GTI recapture that 205 magic?

Reports of the death of the Peugeot GTI have been greatly exaggerated, it seems, with news that the hot Pug hatch could return with the 207 replacement.

According to the news hounds at Autocar, the new Peugeot hot hatch (expected to be dubbed the 208 GTI) will be built primarily for the British and German markets, as these are the only markets that take hot hatches in significant numbers, although the 208 GTI will be on price lists in France, too.

The 208 GTI will likely be powered by the 197bhp 1.6-litre turbo four-pot that has just made its debut in the Peugeot RCZ, and which features variable valve and cam timing and a twin-scroll turbo.

208 will take design cues from SR1 concept

The planned return to 'proper' GTIs, says Autocar, comes from Peugeot's ambition to focus on its traditional strengths - in other words to regain its old reputation as a maker of fine-handling cars. Futures Peugeots will be all about "precision, allure, style, driver control and excellence", says Jean-Marc Gales, boss of the Peugeot and Citroen brands.

The new 208 will arrive in 2012, and should share its design language with the recent SR1 roadster concept.

[Dagnut]

Have I been living in a different dimension? what happened to the 207gti and 206gti?

[Dr G]

Dear pewjo,

Please make this car not suck.

Kind regards,

Everyone.


How Peugeot could miss such a trick for so many years is beyond me!

[Sols]

Everyone seems to be downsizing and turbo charging. Would have preferred to see a nice high revving 2 litre..

[gforceg]

Hope for the best.
Expect the worst.
And drink to kill the pain...

[Gizmo!]

Dr G said:

Dear pewjo,

Please make this car not suck.

Kind regards,

Everyone.

Hear hear!

It's not difficult. Make a good chassis, put the biggest engine under the bonnet you can fit.

[thehardman07]

It's obvious that Peugeot have (finally) noticed the deserved success of the Renaultsport range. Let's hope they actually make a car worthy of wearing the gti badge and not one that trades off former glories.

[doodles19]

About time as well!

Well done Peugeot!

Now lets make this car suck less than we all expect it to after the last few "gtis" you've produced.

[Milks]

did the gti badge ever go away?

shows how much I care

[leon9191]

The joint venture 1.6 turbo is doing the rounds at the moment mind, in almost as many cars as the 1.8t VAG was. By all accounts its a very good engine tho so you cant blame them.

I hope its good but it will have to look very nice to get people away from Minis and the new DS3R.

[GingerWizard]

this does not deserve to be on P'heads.

[doodles19]

olly22n said:

I'll beleive it when i see it.

Lets have a proper rallye version too with steel wheels and gay stripes.

My money is on a fat overwieght, diaster of styling with barely a nod to its predessors.

Absolutely agree, well done sir!

[Martin_Hx]

I won't be holding my breath

[leon9191]

Apparently the key to Peugeots really great drivers cars were their dampers, they were making them in house and to such high tolerances that no other manufacturer could get near them for the money. That of course all went tits up when the bean counters got involved and they started out sourcing them.

That doesnt explain why the got really fat looking tho.

I really do hope the can pull it together, I dont see why not if they are part sharing, but personally I dont think they have made a nice looking car since the 306 and 106.

[Gizmo!]

GingerWizard said:

this does not deserve to be on P'heads.

Really?

[Great Pretender]

Milks said:

did the gti badge ever go away?

shows how much I care

Pooojo in its infinite wisdom decided to axe the 'GTI' after deciding to focus instead on the cars it already excels at making: dross.

Some bright spark within the organisation has obviously realised that the GTI badge actually means something and as such; by providing a decent range topper, it might just sell more cars.

Might.

[Dagnut]

Great Pretender said:

Milks said:

did the gti badge ever go away?

shows how much I care

Pooojo in its infinite wisdom decided to axe the 'GTI' after deciding to focus instead on the cars it already excels at making: dross.

Some bright spark within the organisation has obviously realised that the GTI badge actually means something and as such; by providing a decent range topper, it might just sell more cars.

Might.

Don't understand this...the 207, the preceding model,carried a gti badge?

[SAndals]

"208 will take design cues from SR1 concept"

Aye - it'll have 4 wheels and some lights.......

[McAndy]

Last chance Pug-ot! Get this wrong and next time you may as well not bother cycnically killing off and resurrecting the badge to get people talking about it!

[Great Pretender]

Dagnut said:

Great Pretender said:

Milks said:

did the gti badge ever go away?

shows how much I care

Pooojo in its infinite wisdom decided to axe the 'GTI' after deciding to focus instead on the cars it already excels at making: dross.

Some bright spark within the organisation has obviously realised that the GTI badge actually means something and as such; by providing a decent range topper, it might just sell more cars.

Might.

Don't understand this...the 207, the preceding model,carried a gti badge?

You're right. However, Pug UK announced a couple of months ago that it would never produce another GTI after the 207 (a blessing IMO), and that it would (rather than crawl into a hole and die) thereafter revert to churning out the mundano boxes it has sadly become synonymous with.

It seems there's now been a change of heart in Dieppe and that the GTI will be reborn once more. Frankly I think they'll fail. Badly.

[williamp]

SAndals said:

"208 will take design cues from SR1 concept"

Aye - it'll have 4 wheels and some lights.......

I used to like the cavalier SR1. A good starting point for a GTi, I agree