Laurent Blanchet, a senior official at Peugeot has told British magazine Autocar the 208 GTI concept, unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show, won’t make it into the production unless it’s the best car in its category, better than all rivals. Mind you, that’s not saying much, as Peugeot views cars like Renault Clio 200, VW Polo GTI and Mini JCW as the main rivals for the souped up 208.

We were thinking of Ford Focus ST, or Golf GTI as the cars a high-performance 208 would rival, but maybe we were wrong. Still, if the new 208 GTI is anything like the 205 GTI of the past, it’d be the best car in its class, no doubt.

The engine for the production 208 hot hatch will probably be the same as in the concept, which was the same 1.6-litre THP engine out of the RCZ coupe. It will make between 180 to 200 bhp, and will be mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.

Peugeot is looking for a solution to arrive at a good compromise between performance and convenience for the new car. They don’t want to make a comfy, but roly poly car, but they don’t want a stripped-out track-focused one with no equipments either. That makes things a bit tricky.

via Autocar