Peugeot has been playing with electricity for many years, first creating a hybrid diesel, followed by the crazy 308 R concept hot hatch with two powered axles. But it's rumored that the 208 GTI will embrace the plug, not as a petrol-electric car, but as a pure EV.
The move is controversial, but somehow also completely understandable. A brand new generation of the 208 will join the supermini fight after making its 2019 Geneva Motor Show debut next month. Peugeot made it very clear that a 100% electric version will be offered, together with an equivalent DS and Opel model.
We expect the electric 208 to have 136 horsepower and 260 Nm from a motor mounted over the front axle. The juice will come from a 50 kWh battery with a WLTP range of around 300 kilometers or 186 miles. But what's stopping them from just using a more powerful motor?
If we think about it, such technology has already been previewed with today's 508 hybrid performance concept, which has a 200 HP rear-mounted motor. That's the same amount you got from the old 208 GTi's 1.6-liter turbo.
Of course, the battery might make the hot hatch a couple of hundred kilograms heavier, but that's basically in line with a Golf GTI, so it's not the end of the world. And at the end of the day, few people buy a small sports hatch to go on long trips, so the range is even less of an issue.
French magazine Auto-Moto says that if approved, the electric 208 GTi would cost about €40,000. That's an obscene sum in a segment where affordability is crucial. But 36 years after the launch of the 205 GTi, Peugeot hot hatches aren't doing so well. Renault is reportedly cooking up a 225 horsepower Clio RS with the 1.8-liter turbo from the Megane. But electrification is the only way to have your cake and eat it - performance and zero emissions for those crowded European city centers.
We expect the electric 208 to have 136 horsepower and 260 Nm from a motor mounted over the front axle. The juice will come from a 50 kWh battery with a WLTP range of around 300 kilometers or 186 miles. But what's stopping them from just using a more powerful motor?
If we think about it, such technology has already been previewed with today's 508 hybrid performance concept, which has a 200 HP rear-mounted motor. That's the same amount you got from the old 208 GTi's 1.6-liter turbo.
Of course, the battery might make the hot hatch a couple of hundred kilograms heavier, but that's basically in line with a Golf GTI, so it's not the end of the world. And at the end of the day, few people buy a small sports hatch to go on long trips, so the range is even less of an issue.
French magazine Auto-Moto says that if approved, the electric 208 GTi would cost about €40,000. That's an obscene sum in a segment where affordability is crucial. But 36 years after the launch of the 205 GTi, Peugeot hot hatches aren't doing so well. Renault is reportedly cooking up a 225 horsepower Clio RS with the 1.8-liter turbo from the Megane. But electrification is the only way to have your cake and eat it - performance and zero emissions for those crowded European city centers.