The Peugeot 208 GTi 30th Anniversary has made it's glorious debut, after being announced at the most recent edition of Goodwood, and now the French manufacturer has bolstered it's Paris Motor Show line-up with the special edition vehicle. General prices for the vehicle have also been released, and it'll set you back a rather steep £21,995. While that may come as a slight shock, this is a far more refined 208 than we've ever seen before, and is symbolic of the groundbreaking work undergone by Peugeot (and other manufacturers) in the last few years. A car of this calibre would have been unimaginable 30 years ago. However, it is worth noting that only 100 models will be coming to the UK, so you'll have to get there fast if you're tempted.
The Peugeot 208 GTi gets a number of presents for it's big three-o. 0-62mph will be attainable in 6.5 seconds, and the vehicle will be complaint with Euro 6 emissions and come packed with Peugeot's Stop & Start technology. CO2 stats will reach 125kg. The 208 GTi will also offer a lower suspension setting and new 18-inch matte-black alloy wheels.
The red and black design is impressive, but don't worry if it's not to your tastes as Pearl White and Ruby Red will be offered as standard.
Peugeot has described the vehicle as having ''a more brutish look'' which supports the fact that a more refined finish will make it's way round to a more fiesty looking grille. The 208 GTi 30th anniversary Limited Edition will also boast a plush interior, with a red and black trim and front bucket seats developed by Peugeot Sport.
Revised steering calibration will also feature alongside new-look ESP and traction control, these will work in tandem on a vehicle which will have a significantly less low centre of gravity.
They've also released a tantalising advert for the car in order to get your heart racing. I say tantalising - it really wouldn't surprise me if the commercial was the brainchild of Jeremy Clarkson. The advert is a parody of the advert from 1984 for the original 205, and it does the job excellently well. The beginning of the film employs a grainy effect, as the car that began it all - the 205 - is parachuted between snowy mountain peaks, onto a icy landscape. You almost half expect Jean Claude van Damme and his Ice Bar to pop up out of nowhere. The way the advert is constructed, encourages the viewer to jump back into that time, thirty years ago and surely back then, even the 205's creator couldn't have imagined the legacy the vehicle would have - but the 205 has grown into something more than just a mere piece of metal. It is an icon, and one that undoubtedly Peugeot will exploit over the coming months.
The 205 is minding it's own business, being attacked by a fighter jet and then from absolutely nowhere, the swish 30th anniversary edition swoops in and the jet is replaced by a Titan military plane which is bearing down on the new upstart driven by a man with a tremendous beard. It is perhaps worth interjecting here, that the 208 looks fabulous and while it's entirely CGI'd up, if the finished article is anything like what we can see here we are in for a treat when it launches. Meanwhile, shots are well and truly fired, with missiles burning holes in the ice as the vehicle speeds away down a hill. It is here, that presumably, the Titan gives up and now it's an Apache Helicopter letting metal rip at the poor 208. In a flash, the tremendous-beard-man lets a cheeky smile shine across his face, flips the nimble vehicle over the helicopter - not without some taunting mind - and this somehow disorientates the pilot who smashes into a ribbon declaring the finish line for some sort of 21st century version of the Pamplona Bull Run. The advert finishes with our protagonist arriving at what looks like dracula's castle, where a stunning woman in a slim black dress is waiting for him - obviously smitten by his incredible helicopter-evading skills. Fantastic. The advert does a great job of going completely insane and over-the-top, much like the original version did in 1984, and should create significant clamour for the new vehicle at launch.
