Peugeot GTi Moniker Could Be Erased in 2020

Did you know that the GTI suffix is not only used by Volkswagen, other automaker that also uses it is none other than Peugeot. It comes close enough with the GTi, a moniker that first came into use in 1984 when the company launches its 205 hot hatch.

The whole GTi family has gone out of production except the 308 GTi, which is still here. But even this sole survivor seems to be removed soon from the company’s portfolio. At least it will lose the GTi suffix. According to Auto Express, the 208 will be called Peugeot Sport Engineered after the GTi name is ditched. This also has to do with the electrification fever that has been endemic all over the world.

The report suggests that bosses of the French carmaker have begun to dislike calling the future 208 a GTi because of its electric powertrain. The new name is predicted since it was used at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show when Peugeot introduced its 508-based concept called the 508 Peugeot Sport Engineered.

The one-off, plug-in hybrid saloon is powered by a 1.6-liter turbo four-cylinder engine from the PureTech family and a pair of electric motors – one on each axle. The combined power generated by the system is over 500 hp with the peak output delivered unsimultaneously. This drawback severely cuts the concept’s real-world grunt to around 400 hp.

With that output, the car can still launch to 62 mph in 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 155 mph, which is relatively fast for a mid-size eco-friendly saloon. A European-spec 508 will reportedly go on sale in 2020, but different from the concept, it will have a total output of only 350 bhp.

It’s reported that Peugeot bosses in the UK and the ones in the France are having a fight over the name change. Those in the UK rejects the idea of dropping the GTi badge for the next-gen 208 as the name resonates greatly in the UK, said an insider to Auto Express.