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It seems that a new Peugeot 208 GTi could be on the market, as the new boss of the French company has revealed that he wants to return to its heritage, and that includes the legendary GTi badge.
While discussing the potential of the new 208 GTi, Peugeot's newly appointed CEO Alain Favet said Auto Express and other media outlets: "That's a very good question. As you can imagine, I've only been in this position for 10 days, and that's one of the questions I often ask myself.
I am very keen to connect the Peugeot brand and what it stands for with its past, with its heritage in all its aspects. So we will look at what is the heritage of the brand and see to what extent it can be adapted to the modern world.
And nothing will be excluded from our review, and certainly not the GTi badge.”
Unfortunately, Fave didn't share any specific plans for Peugeot to return to its hot hatchback roots. But this is the second time that we've seen hope for a faster version of the new Peugeot 208, and our exclusive images give us a glimpse of what it could look like.
After the recent disappearance of the Peugeot 508 PSE, the French company was left without a performance-oriented model.
In an exclusive interview with Auto Express, Stellantis UK Managing Director Jurig Drus said that the death of the 508 PSE does not mean the end of the brand's performance model line.
“There may be other products in the future,” he told us. “Peugeot has always had a penchant for fast small hatchbacks, as we’ve seen in the different generations of the GTi. I remember the 205 GTi when I first joined the company. And then the 206 GTi.
"It would be very sad if we announced that we would no longer be going in that direction. I would not like that day to come, and I do not think it will come."
Peugeot's storied heritage of hot hatchbacks gives us every reason to believe the brand could return to the genre for its next performance car, rather than a crossover or family SUV. Auto Express also revealed last year that there would be a hot hatch variant of the Vauxhall Corsa, dubbed the GSe, a sibling to the 208. Both supermicros are due to be launched in 2026 and will use parent company Stellantis' new STLA Small platform.
A faster version of the next Peugeot 208 would also give the company a rival for the Alpine A290 and MINI JCW Electric.
We asked Drus directly if we could expect a tuned version of the 208, and he admitted: "Personally, I would like to see it. Peugeot Sport engineers are the ones who will be doing it."
We asked Drus whether the PSE (Peugeot Sport Engineered) badge would return or whether the GTi would make an appearance, but he declined to comment. Our exclusive images lean towards the latter; its fan base and nearly 40-year history will be well-received by British and European buyers.
Drus said: "The key for me is the credibility that the PSE involvement brought. So whether we call it PSE or GTi, the truth is that Peugeot Sport developed the car and there were differences in driving characteristics between it and the standard car. I think that's very important."
He continued: "What we can never do is put a GTi badge on a car that is just a regular car with a slightly larger electric motor, for example. One of the big problems in the future market is that almost every electric car can be fast."
