17 Jul 08
Peugeot will this year be raising a glass of vintage champagne to toast the 25th anniversary of one of its most crucial cars - the 205. And for good reason: frankly, Peugeot and the majority of the French car industry might not be here today without the pretty 205.
Peugeot's acquisition of French carmaker Simca in 1978 meant that it inadvertently bought the know-how to make great small cars. It needed it. By the early 80s, the Peugeot 104 was well past its sell-by date. Having started life as a tiny saloon, it had to be converted to hatch mid-life to compete with more modern competitors.
The new 205 couldn't come soon enough. Pininfarina - erroneously thought to be responsible for the car's design - provided inspiration for the French firm in-house stylist Gerard Welter, who bravely introduced curves into the French firm's design language.
Initially available in 1983 with a wheezy 45bhp 1-litre engine, with more powerful 1.1 and 1.4 units following, it took another year after launch before the French addressed the lack of a halo sports model.
The 205 GTi was powered by a modest-sounding 113bhp 1.6-litre, putting it head-to-head with the accomplished Volkswagen Golf GTI and the Escort XR3i. Costing just £6,520, it undercut its rivals and became a benchmark for handling and agility. A larger, more powerful 1.9-litre arrived in 1986 and a legend was born.
Within two years a million 205s were sold, with GTis dominating the marketing and the French firm using rallying and motorsport to ram home the firm's engineering prowess. That is how the monstrous 205 Turbo 16 came about, a car that dominated rallying, bagging the 1985 and 1986 championships and taking victory in the 1987 and 1988 Paris-Dakar rally.
