Peugeot has just now caught on to a strategy employed by Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and co: building higher performance variants of existing sporty models.
The French firm recently launched the RCZ-R internationally, then showed the same car here at the Johannesburg International Motor Show. Now Peugeot plans to apply the same treatment to the 208 and 308 GTi models as it realises that these halo models often result in higher profit margins as the incremental costs for the added performance are not excessive.
“Above the 208 GTi, we will soon have an even sportier 208 R, which is a good example of what we would like to add to top the 308 range,” said Peugeot CEO Maxime Picat during a recent interview with Automotive News.
“Moving upmarket with special versions of each model line is not very different from what Volkswagen does with its GTI/GTD variants,” Picat is also quoted as saying.
Details of the 208 R are not confirmed but an increase and power and torque is a certainty but probably not as high as the 200 kW that the RCZ-R manages to produce from the same 1,6-litre turbopetrol that they share.
Peugeot South Africa spokespersons state that there is no talk of such models for the local market, but based on the fact that the RCZ-R will be available locally, we won’t bet against the 308 and 208 R topping off their respective ranges in the not too distant future.
