After the apparent abandonment of the GTi acronym, Peugeot seems to be preparing to abandon the hot hatch . At least that's what can be inferred from the statements of Jerome Micheron, product director of the French brand, after being questioned by Top Gear about a new 308 GTI: “if we look at the sports versions market and at the CO2 limits we see that it collapsed”.
So far so good. After all, the acronym GTI had already been reformed, with its place being taken by the new acronym PSE (Peugeot Sport Engineered).
However, the French executive went further, and seems to have closed the door to an eventual 308 PSE with a formula identical to the 508 PSE (plug-in hybrid).
A question of market and… weight
In other words, it seems that there are no plans at all for a sporty version of the familiar Gallic compact. About a possible PSE version of new Peugeot 308, with a hybrid drivetrain, Jerome Micheron stated, “We don't see a market yet. Plus, this solution adds extra weight.”
Now, this apparent abandonment of a possible 308 PSE ends up going against the rumors that until recently showed that, in this new generation, the 308 would have a sports version with a plug-in hybrid engine.
In this case, it was expected that the 308 PSE would resort to an identical solution that we've already seen not only in the 3008 Hybrid4, but also in the 508 PSE. In other words, the use of the 1.6 PureTech with 200 hp and two electric motors (one on the rear axle ensuring all-wheel drive) that would allow it to have at least 300 hp.
Now, taking into account the statements of the product director of Peugeot, it seems that (at the moment) the highest performance variant of the new Peugeot 308 is sticking to the plug-in hybrid version of 225 hp.