Originally, I started the foreign cars’ section at this blog intending to write only about the bigger news, especially the arrivals of new models, so it wouldn’t require too much time to keep the blog up to date. But, as an European cars fan, it was impossible for me to see these two versions and only read about them. So there it is, a little text about GTi and XY, two versions of this French hatchback which have huge potential to extend the 208’s market around Europe and – I hope so – at the other markets it’ll be sold at soon.
Expanding a car’s offer into different versions is an as old as effective strategy, when it comes to enable one model to fulfill more customers’ needs before it’s needed to create another model, above it or beneath it at the company’s list. Some of these versions differ only at luxury levels, such as Chevrolet’s LS, LT and LTZ, while other ones try to give the car a whole new focus. It’s like the Mercedes-Benz AMG, BMW M or Audi S, which makes urban sedans and station wagons turn into very elegant sports cars whose hunger for speed can’t be entirely predicted by someone who only sees their black-tie style. There are many other examples, like the Fiat Adventure line at Brazil, which gives light off-road potential to its cars by increasing the suspension height and adding special tires and more resistant exterior parts, and the 208 follows this path. Not the off-road one, but the special versions one. And the nicest part of all that isn’t even that GTi and XY came from concept-cars: one of them makes a very valuable link with its glorious past, while the other allows it to compete with cars previously unthinkable. In other words, it’ll change its future.
The flaring red almost deserves to be entitled as the official sports car’s main color. It is frequently repeated through the years, but it’s nice to see that it seems to never lose its appeal. Leaving the colors’ historical value aside, the fact is that this one agrees very well with the idea of the 208 GTi of being sporty but with intention of taking all the attention to itself. Its merits come from all the tribute it renders to the 205 GTi, which is some sort of 208’s great-grandfather (after it Peugeot changed generations making the entire counting until 208), and got famous for the huge sales around the world and for the performance of this particular version. Only the European 207 had similar option, but it made a much more elegant interpretation, including the 5-door option which 205 GTi never had. But now, 208 seems to follow the nostalgic wave who’s producing cars like Fiat 500, Mini Cooper and VW New Beetle, and looks back to this ancestral at its whole recipe. At the outside it has 17” wheels, red brake calipers, double exhaust pipe, side spoilers and the GTi logotypes around the car, besides the special suspension, with more rigid adjustments. The fans of those cars will be delighted to know that it’ll be sold only at the three-door version.
Entering this car reveal one of the most beautiful red and black mixtures of the modern cars – some may say Dodge Dart has stronger style, while others could argue 208 is much more discreet. It has some sort of dégradé that removes the excesses of one and the other colors and gives a very good impression: while the black coating and silver from the aluminum details make it very modern, the red parts give a stylish personality. This car has Nappa leather seats with red stitching and special pedals, but its main highlight is another one. Opening the hood we can see the already classical 1.6 THP used in many PSA models, but prepared to achieve 200 hp and 28 kgfm of torque and using a six-speed manual transmission, which allows it to go from zero to 100 km/h (60 mph) at around seven seconds, and beat the first kilometer at 28 seconds. Besides all that, Peugeot will sell a special edition, limited at 50 units, with exclusive wheels and the pearl white paint, navigation system, HDG hifi, numbered plaque and front air intake with the French flag, as used at the concept-car. If you’re one of the lots and lots of people interested in this car, the 208 GTi’s sales start next year.
But how about the other version? Yes, that gorgeous purple concept-car is also going to hit the streets. But this one’s main focus is the sophistication. So there’s nothing as spoilers or bigger air intakes, because the 208 XY goes for the customers who prefer a classier style, and followed by plenty of luxury equipments. Which means… Yes, Peugeot has finally stepped into the premium hatchbacks, joining a struggle that has earned a lot of customers since the huge success started by Mini Cooper and Fiat 500. However, the entire car kind of screams that it doesn’t look back to the past when it comes at design: its proposal is much more like what Audi A1 and its PSA “cousin”, Citroën DS3, do: highlight the modernity of its own style. The differences from an usual 208 start at the chromated front air intake, and continue with the 17” wheels with exclusive design, the also exclusive headlights design using LEDs to some of the functions and one of the latest car trends: panoramic sunroof. But it gets better inside: the coating uses even better materials and features the purple stitching, this one to match the color used at other parts around the interior.
Besides that, Peugeot highlights that 208 XY is the second small-sized hatchback in Europe to bring the Park Assist system (the other one is Lancia Ypsilon), whose name explains itself – this equipment is also one of the many uses of the central 7” touchscreen above the console, this one also exclusive for this version. Of course, the fact that this car’s focus is not the performance doesn’t mean at all it’s going to be slow: the diesel options are made by the e-HDI 1.6 with 92 or 115 hp, while the gasoline options use two different engines: they are the 1.6 VTI, with 120 hp, and the 1.6 THP at the standard version, with 155 hp. According to the option, the transmission can be a five or six-speed manual one, or an automatic six-speed one. This car will surely be much more expensive than the standard versions, but this stops being a problem if we remember the public it wants to attract. These wealthier customers doesn’t see the reduced size as a symbol of a cheap car. Concentrating this huge amount of luxury in such a compact car has become a strong trend among the most recent cars specially when it’s covered by this stylish design, because it seems to help the owner to express that stand-out-in-the-crowd desire.