Peugeot certainly knows how to engineer a good hot hatch. But does the French firm’s marketing department need a little history refresher?
It appears the next hot Peugeot 208 won’t feature the iconic GTi suffix on its flanks, but rather the slightly more cumbersome Peugeot Sport Engineered.
Setting aside the fact “PSE” sounds like some sort of degenerative disease, the GTi badge is indelibly linked with Peugeot’s heritage. It seems like a bold move ... and then you also learn that the car the new badge will be affixed to will be a full electric model, rather than petrol-powered.
Quite the departure, then.
We should point out that shortening the favoured Peugeot Sport Engineered sub-name is our doing and Peugeot has never suggested it’ll be shortened into an acronym. In fact, it has already hinted at the name in the recent past, with the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered concept car it unveiled at this year’s Geneva Motor Show.
According to British motoring outlet Auto Express, Peugeot UK bosses aren’t as keen on the idea of eradicating the GTi sub-brand as their French overlords however, citing the heritage wrapped up in those three little letters.
Auto Express reports that a Peugeot UK insider told journalists the GTi name has “great resonance and heritage, and the GTi name would be a perfect fit” for the next hot 208.
We can’t argue with them in our part of the world, either. But then, with the 208 set to undergo such a radical change, would the modern Peugeot customer care either way?
We’ll know more once the next-gen 208 (now electric) hot hatch is revealed next year.