The GTI label returns with Peugeot. The Lion brand announced an E-208 prototype in the survived version in its Fan Batter zone of the Le Mans Circuit this Friday, June 13, the day before the departure of this legendary race.
“A prototype very close to the final version, which will be revealed very quickly,” said Matthias Hossan, design director of Peugeot.
The design pays tribute to 205 GTI, launched in 1984, with many red details and the color of cars the new model presented in Le Mans. Just before the presentation, the images of the iconic advertising “James Bond against the Bombardier” were transmitted on the screens and the 208 was covered with a parachute canvas.
“We wanted to preserve what the very essence of a Peugeot GTI, explains Matthias Hossann. We did not want to be in a scandalous gesture or in an overexpression of sportsmanship and that is what we can see on the outside: we observe that it is a GTI per posture, the fact that the vehicle is also reduced, we will also magnify with these rims.
280 horsepower and a 0 to 100 in 5.7 seconds
On the performance side: Peugeot announces 280 horsepower, a torque of 345 Nm, for the electric motor, with a maximum speed of 180 km/Hy 0 to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds.
A 5.7 figure that is also at the level of the power-peso ratio, 5.7 kg per horse, said Jean-Marc Finot, managing director of Stellantis Motorsport.
This 208 GTI future will also be equipped with a limited sliding differential integrated into the reducer, sufficient to optimize curve behavior, with more agility, efficiency and stability.
The sports team and an electric motor of 280 horsepower that is already within the Stellantis group in the Alfa Romeo Junior Veloce was launched last year.
The 208 GTI will also recover the same 54 kWh battery of gross capacity as in this Italian cousin, with an expected autonomy of around 350 kilometers WLTP.
A GTI label converted to electricity
A highly anticipated return: the first generation 208 had the right to its GTI version until 2018 and the label died in 2020 with the arrest of the production of 308 GTI.
A label that goes to Electric, after the failure of the PSE version (Peugeot Sport Enginered) that was offered in the 508 rechargeable hybrid between 2020 and 2024, but which was finally not available in other models.
In the current context, leaving today a small thermal sports car is presented as an impossible mission by Peugeot.
“It must be aware of the fact that everything is not to develop an extraordinary car, but also that it is also accessible to people and we know that in particular in France, with the penalty and taxes as defined, the only solution to make a sports car accessible for a large audience is that it is electric,” analyzes Alain Favey, general director of Peugeot.
The one who has assumed the position since the beginning of the year is still optimistic about the ability to seduce fans of sports driving with such an efficient electric motor.
“Challenge to any of the best posters in the past to enter this car and tell me that it is not up to your expectations,” said Alain Favey.
However, a great stranger: the price. A priori response a little later in the year with the opening of orders and the first expected deliveries by 2026.
Its future competitor, the Alpine A290 currently begins at 38,700 euros in its 180 HP version and 41,700 euros for 220 horsepower.
Source: BFM TV
