Peugeot officially isn’t a performance car brand anymore, but it could be

It’s just a couple of weeks until the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year will see Peugeot take a fresh stab at glory on its home turf in the thrilling new Hypercar class, so we caught up with CEO Linda Jackson to see exactly what it means for roadgoing Peugeots.

“The World Endurance Championship (WEC) gives us a chance to talk about Peugeot not just in terms of our cars on the road, but our durability and engineering,” she said. “I think of it like a technological laboratory. You can test things right down to design elements; the 9X8 racecar displayed our three-claw light signature before the road cars. We can develop suspension, hybridisation, electrification and aerodynamics in racing to use on cars on road.”

Does this still hold true when Peugeot’s range of cars will morph into pure EVs in 2030? “We chose WEC because it represents a stepping stone. We all know we are in the transformation towards electric. It was important for us to link with something on the journey to electrification.”

So why not go the whole hog with Formula 1? “The cost of the entry ticket,” is her frank answer. “WEC involves a lot of investment but F1 is a different world.” There’ll be no glorious return to World Rallying, either – Jackson reckons it’d need to be full EVs to pique her interest, while you’d suspect Stellantis will prioritise sending Lancia back to the stages out of its now 14 (!) brands.

“I want to concentrate on one motorsport and do it well,” she said, before confirming that local markets see Peugeot sales shoot up when the WEC circus rolls into town.

So if ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ really does work, what chance another halo performance car once the Peugeot 508 PSE heads for retirement? “We could do it. We’re debating whether to do another performance car or take the technology we develop in WEC and apply that across a wider range of cars.” The 508 PSE only recently had its mid-life update, she added. But it also dwells in a marketplace (and at a price point) that makes it a lot more niche than the light, affordable GTI hot hatches most millennials’ respect for Peugeot is founded upon.

“No, we’re not [a performance car brand these days],” Jackson admitted. “But do you have to be? We thought about extending the Peugeot Sport Engineered brand but then electrification became our priority. Stellantis is investing more than €40bn in electrification. You have to make your priorities.”

Look elsewhere in the Stellantis mothership and the new Abarth 600e and Lancia Ypsilon HF deploy a 237bhp all-electric powertrain that’d slot oh-so-sweetly beneath a 208 bodyshell. Could Peugeot make good use of that? “Who knows,” Jackson said.

At the other end of the spectrum, has anyone yet enquired about a road-legal 9X8 after she hinted at production in exchange for a blank cheque? “We haven’t had any interest I’m aware of!” she said. Boo. But what about a 9X8 freed of WEC’s strict rulebook, one to snare Peugeot some extracurricular success a la the Porsche 919 Evo project? The French firm has strong heritage in smashing Pikes Peak records, after all.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said. “It’s quite a good idea.”

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