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2020 Peugeot 208 GTi Rumored to Be 100% Electric

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.
2020 Peugeot 208 GTi  Rumored to Be 100% Electric 1 photo
Photo: SB-Medien
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.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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