Peugeot on channelling heritage without going retro

Certain words can leave a sour taste in a designer’s mouth. ‘Styling’ is a well-known example, but ‘retro’ is hot on its heels as brands look to channel yesteryear in next-generation products.

It makes sense that such a term would bring a twitch to the eye. The goal of design is not to perfect and maintain but to push and provoke. In that context, sceptics could feasibly view retro through a lens of laziness, lack of ambition or an imagination gone stale. Clinging to past success like a Big Brother winner from the noughties. None of this is the kind of thing of which a contemporary designer should be associated.

Peugeot’s design project manager, Michaël Trouvé, knows all this and faced similar concerns when tackling the next addition to the GTI lineage, the e-208 GTI. Reporting directly to design director Matthias Hossan and specialising in what he describes as “more sporty cars”, he was well placed to work on the project. (Trouvé is in fact being modest – recent projects of his include the 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar.)

Speaking to CDN, he explains that the team was less concerned with avoiding retro tropes, and more about distilling Peugeot’s particular brand of GTI. “There are many sporty cars on the market, but they are not like Peugeot GTI," he says, "so we really asked what is specific to our car? It can be either a distinctive daily car or a rewarding sporty car. It has this kind of double-sided personality.”

Adopting a familiar mindset, then, is one way to channel heritage without going overtly retro. But what about specific design cues? Trouvé points to the power of ‘stance’, achieved in the case of the e-208 GTI by a 30mm lower ride height and wider track front (56mm) and rear (27mm). It is a stocky little thing, very much reminiscent of its 40-year-old sibling. “For the exterior design, this was the first request, the stance of the car,” he explains. “Like a 205 GTI back in the days, at first sight, even from far, you could recognise that it was not a common 205, it was something special. So this was very important for us.”

It was interesting to make a nod to this, but it was important to be understated

Other nods to the 'original' GTI come in the form of subtle red stitching and much less subtle all-red carpets, and on the outside, large pepper pot-style wheels. The most blatant cue is the GTI badge placed on the C-pillar. Clear nods to Peugeot’s GTI heritage, yes, but is the execution ‘retro’? It certainly doesn't feel that way in person.

“We tried to reinvent some very simple yet memorable graphics. Everyone remembers the contrast between the body colour and the red edging in the black, especially on the C-pillar,” says Trouvé. “It’s something that really belongs to Peugeot. No other brand does it like that, so it was interesting to make a nod to this. But once again, it was important to be understated. It must be a car that is easy to live with and although everyone can notice it's a special car there is no overstyling, no spoilers or carbon fibre everywhere.”

Thumbing through the pages of a nicely produced coffee table book to coincide with the launch of the e-208 GTI, it becomes clear that the latest chapter continues a story of reduction. “Early on we had the temptation to add things, but when we look at the best of our Peugeot GTI history, the cars remain simple. Simple, but memorable,” continues Trouvé. Perhaps recognising the repetition of those words, he adds that “this was the our motto: make it simple. When we managed that, we were on a track to make something that keeps the best of Peugeot’s GTI DNA.”

Product planners have pulled the Emergency Nostalgia lever for the mass market

‘Celebrating heritage’ while skirting the thorny topic of ‘retro’ is tricky business, but it is something the design team clearly addressed quite openly with the new e-208 GTI. It has been managed through subtle visible cues and slightly deeper, more conceptual themes, but also some on the nose, in your face staging. At its launch in Scotland, the new electric hatchback was parked alongside a mint example of the much-loved 205 GTI from the mid ‘80s. A brave decision to sit the geeky new kid next to the prom king.

That confidence would prove well judged, planting the idea of an agile, nimble hot hatch that should be a riot through twisty roads, and sure enough, the new electric contender felt exactly that. Behind the wheel it feels very much a new car, but you can’t help but feel connected to the original through the ether.

Peugeot is not the only brand (or even the only brand within Stellantis for that matter) that is combing its heritage for useful nuggets. Others are more literally exhuming their back catalogue of classics. This year’s Paris motor show was awash with retro interpretations like the Fiat Multiplay, as well as direct reanimations like the Citroen 2CV or Alpine A310. Peugeot for that matter brought back the RCZ nameplate as well.

There is clearly a battle to bring buyers on side at a time where the outgoing crop of models has failed to thrill. Product planners have pulled the Emergency Nostalgia lever and while it is not an inherently bad thing – if you’ve got it flaunt it – it does prompt a lingering question: what comes next? And perhaps most pertinently: do consumers even care about all this or will retro design remain kindling for LinkedIn comment sections?

As with most things, time will tell whether the injection of retro heritage appeal is an ace up the sleeve of legacy brands, or a sign of conflicted design strategy. For what it is worth, the e-208 GTI is an example of how to heritage mine and come up with gold, elevating a contemporary platform with a hat tip to past glory for those who will appreciate it. Peugeot could have relaunched the 205 as an EV instead, but sometimes it is best to let legends lie.