Hello, can you help me?
Certainly, what are you looking for?
Well, I really need to have a sensible, five-door family hatchback, but I'm a bit of a car enthusiast so I'd also like it to have a 500hp plugin hybrid drivetrain, so that it can accelerate from 0-62mph in around four4 seconds and yet has CO2 emissions of 70g/km.
Ah, you'll be wanting the Peugeot 308 R Hybrid then, Not-At-All-Fictional-Customer-Person.
Really? I thought that was just a concept?
Apparently not. In fact, according to some sources within Peugeot who may or may not have been speaking to us, "when it was revealed earlier in the year, they were quite clear it wasn't a concept car..." That would indicate that it's actually destined for production, complete with mental 500hp output, and the official announcement is likely to be made at the Frankfurt Motor Show next Tuesday.
And that's not all. Peugeot has already revealed the 308 GTi in 250- and 270hp forms at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, but this is the first time that continental car buyers will get a look at them. The 270hp version gets a trick limited slip differential and has had its chassis worked over by the same mad scientists who created the 850hp 208 Pikes Peak record car. Just to hammer home the point that there's a new Peugeot GTi on sale, there's also going to be a new one-make racing series. On sale worldwide in late 2016, the 308 Racing Cup will replace the RCZ Racing Cup in the Peugeot Sport promotion formulas and will be seen in racing series such as the VLN in Germany, CER in Spain, CITE in Italy and BGDC in Belgium, and endurance championships like the 24H Series.
Derived from 308 GTi, the 308 Racing Cup has been designed purely for the race track. Unlike its standard 270hp sister car, this one will reach 308hp. While it is fitted with the same powertrain components as the Peugeot 308 GTi, the 308 Racing Cup also comes with competition brakes with six-piston callipers and a six-speed sequential gearbox with steering wheel mounted paddles. It has impressive style too, with a spoiler designed to WTCC standards to keep it on the ground, 18-inch wheels and flared wheel arches, making it 106mm wider than the 308 GTi.
Peugeot will also be showing off its new Fractal concept car in Frankfurt. Although coupé-shaped, it's actually a crossover concept, with an adjustable ride height and a 304hp electric drivetrain, which Peugeot claims can go for 270 miles between charge ups. The interior has been designed around a new touch screen and a steering wheel with touch-sensitive pads, and there's a clever holographic heads-up display. Plus, the cabin has been designed with anechoic panels that reduce unwanted noise coming in from the outside, but help to focus sounds that you do want, such as from the stereo. Expect a lot of the exterior styling, and possibly the adaptive ride height stuff, to show up on the next-generation 308.
And my 500hp family hatchback?
Well, watch this space...
Neil Briscoe - 11 Sep 2015
